The effects of magic
by ElectroVenik
Summary: Take our current reality, add Harry Potter world, fast forward to Mass Effect era. Alternate!Humanity, Alternate First Contact. Story starts as the Trio escape from Malfoy Manor and goes AU from here. A lot of OOC. Master-of-Death!Harry, no pairings as of yet, fast-paced. See A/N for additional details.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: this is a work of fiction. No profits are being made. All recognizable characters or situations belong to their respective owners.

**A/N:** this is obviously an AU and a cross-over between HP and ME worlds. As such, I will take certain liberties with timelines, characters and the like. For example, I take it that Hogwarts is indeed the only magical school in Britain, and every kid goes there. Therefore, entire Britain's Wizarding World population is about 15000 people, give or take a few hundred.

Warning – Harry would be heavily OOC (this is AU crossover, of course he would!).

Warning – there would be clichés in the first chapter.

Chapter have been beta'ed and re-uploaded on May 13th.

**Chapter 1. The pivotal choice.**

Harry was exhausted to the point of numbness. Dobby's cruel fate was just a last straw. His heart was clenched in pain, and his head was blissfully, mercifully empty as he dug the grave for his small friend. He barely registered others joining in, barely heard Luna's honest words above the small body, barely felt Voldemort's elation through the scar. He discovered a counter to their connection. Grief – love – made his mind utterly incomprehensible to Voldemort. Staring at the white marble stone above the small grave, Harry felt strange clarity. Sheer exhaustion coupled with grief and the absence of Locket-horcrux dulled his emotions and doubts. His mind was free to make connections and piece together the clues.

Harry knew that Voldemort was hurrying back to Britain, he knew what he discovered in the highest cell of Nurmengard, he knew what – and where – Voldemort was so desperate to reach. Hogwarts. Dumbledore's grave. Elder Wand. It was a perfect opportunity. He did not need much**_._**

Gryffindor's sword, his father's Cloak, and Bill's old Cleensweep 5. Not paying any mind to Ron's frantic questions, Harry apparated to the old caves near Hogsmeade – the ones Sirius hid in. It was a short ride through the village, up the twisty path to Hogwarts, through the Forbidden Forest. Harry hid the broom in the nearby bush, donned the Cloak and filled his mind with thoughts about his loved ones**_._**

The wait was short. Voldemort stalked to the white tomb with visible anticipation. With a lazy wave of his wand, the tomb split and cracked, opening the peaceful vision of a deceased Headmaster. Pale spidery hand darted forward and snatched the wand from the dead fingers just before goblin-wrought steel hacked into the long pale neck.

Harry barely felt anything when a snake-like head thumped to the ground. The body followed a second later. He wasn't surprised or scared when Voldemort's remains began to smoulder and evaporate. He watched, detached, as the vapours coalesced into a wraith. He did not make an effort to protect himself when said wraith lunged at him.

Pain was a nice wake-up call.

Harry thought he knew pain when he was held under Dark Lord's Crucio. He thought he knew agony when Voldemort attempted to possess him after the DOM debacle. He was wrong. At the graveyard, Voldemort was torturing him. In the Ministry atrium, he was controlling his body. Now… now he was trying to outright eradicate his very soul.

It was unbearable. In the span of few seconds, Harry personally killed dozens of innocents. Watched Death Eaters rape and kill hundreds. His own curse felled his father five times. He was the one to kill Lily Potter. And again. And again. And again. Times and times again, in an eternal loop he watched light leaving her eyes. Just like Dobby's…

The brief thought broke the hold on him, giving Harry ability to resist. His soul was still battered and ripped by the evil tendrils…but he had the control of his body. Blind from the tears and deaf from his own screams, Harry crawled forward and picked up the fallen wand. Elder Wand. Deathstick. It hummed to the touch, sending sparks of magic through his body, distracting Voldemort, giving him an idea.

Try as he might, Voldemort couldn't destroy his host's soul or even simply expel it from the body. Already his magic was taxed beyond any belief. He had enough juice to shatter Potter's mind, probably, but was it wise? He would be spent for decades, utterly incoherent and powerless. And who would guarantee that Potter won't regain his mind sooner or later? No, better to end this now.

Harry allowed Voldemort to raise Deathstick to his temple. If it takes Voldemort with him, even if it just stops the pain, he was fine with it. Ron and Hermione would figure out the rest. They would have time.

It was two minds, two souls, two wills, two different magic users incanting the same spell, using the same wand, targeting the same body. The difference laid in intent and Old Magicks. The same Old Magicks that governed the selfless sacrifice, love, and wandlore. There was a green flash, and silence.

* * *

"You were right, Albus. He knows you have it. He's here, going to take it."

"Not to worry, Severus. The victory in this war won't be achieved by brute force anyway. Now…Severus? What's the matter? Is he summoning you?"

"No, it's…it's gone. Not completely, but…it's barely there! The Mark!"

"The Mark is gone?"

"Look! Like in that cursed Halloween. Did you leave a surprise for Dark Lord?"

"No, I don't believe I did. This is puzzling, Severus. You better investigate."

* * *

Harry awoke to quiet mutterings above him. The voice was familiar. The cold ground underneath him wasn't. Did he felt asleep on watch? He felt someone levitating him onto a stretcher, but didn't risk opening his eyes or showing other signs of being awake. There was a whoosh, a ripple of a cloak, and he felt motion. Now he knew who was transporting him – Severus Snape. The realization brought rage with it. He didn't stop to think, he just acted.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Snape died with a surprised expression on his face.

"Oh!" Harry groaned. Both the conjured stretcher and the charm keeping it in the air evaporated with Snape's death. Shakily, he stood up, and only then registered what he done, where he was, and how he came to be here in the first place.

"Goddamit. It worked. It worked! Take that, you old codger!"

* * *

_March 24th,** 1998.**_ After coming to his senses, Harry, armed with the Elder Wand and Gryffindor's sword, marched into Hogwarts. Using the Cloak and the Marauder's map from his moleskin pouch, he tracked down McGonagall, Flitwick and Slughorn and used their help to capture Carrows and raise the wards. Messages are sent to the Order of Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army.

_March 25th,_**_ 1998_.** "Potter Watch" announces the second fall of Voldemort. Word comes to Hogwarts that Death Eaters are organizing at the Ministry. The Golden Trio figures out the location of Diadem-horcrux and destroys it. Fifteen Slytherins led by Theodor Nott and Pansy Parkinson break out of Hogwarts, killing Slughorn, Hagrid, Seamus Finnigan and Ginny Weasley in the process. Gringotts closes doors. With Wizarding Britain dividing into two warring armies, nobody gives goblins a second thought.**_  
_**

_March 26th,** 1998.**_ Students of Hogwarts are demanding justice upon the Slytherins and everyone who welcomed Carrow's regime. It takes Harry personally locking Slytherin common room and standing guard to stop the mob. Plans are drawn to deal with Death Eaters.

_April 5th,** 1998.**_ Bellatrix Lestrange leads a group of fanatical Death Eaters into an ambush at Little Hangleton's graveyard. Twenty Death Eaters die in a crossfire, including Bellatrix and Rastaban. Ronald Weasley is the only casualty on the Light Side.

_April 7th,** 1998.**_ Rodolphus Lestrange leads a terror attack on Diagon Alley. Order of Phoenix arrives, and the battle is joined. Fifteen minutes into it, doors of Gringotts are opening, and a horde of goblins proceeds to attack both sides. Casualties on all sides are horrific. Harry uses the opportunity to sneak into the bank and destroy the Hufflepuff's Cup. He escapes the bank on a dragon-back. Charlie Weasley is killed by goblins.

_April 15th,_ **_1998_.** Lucius Malfoy comes to the Hogwart's gates with the head of Rodolphus Lestrange and a way to break into the Ministry building.

_May 2nd, **1998.**_ The Final Battle commences. Death Eaters are wiped out, but a dead-man's switch in the wards of DoM makes victory hollow. Only a hundred make it out of collapsing building alive. Neither Bill nor Percy Weasley make it. Nagini is confirmed dead. The Voldemort threat is finally over

_May 15th,** 1998.**_ Survivors from the Final Battle mount an attack on Gringotts in an attempt to stop the rampaging goblin rebellion. Due to lack of people conventional attack fails. There are less than two hundred able-bodied wand-users left.

_May 17th, **1998.**_ For the first time in history, wizards use muggle weapons of mass destruction. PG-mixture is released into the tunnels in large quantities. A day later there are no living beings in the Gringotts' bowels.

_September 1st, **1998.**_ There are a total of fifteen first-year students this year. Census shows that there are less than seven thousand wand-users left in Great Britain. Harry Potter invites Hermione Granger, Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin and Fleur Weasley to join his household in hopes that company may benefit them all. All three accept**_._**

_**1999.**_ British Wizarding World starts to slowly rebuild. Demographic crisis is the most pressing problem, with Werewolf uprising coming a close second. The meritocracy government is formed, called the Government of Best and Brightest, or simply The Government. 10% of Government budget is allocated to R&D division.

_**2002.** _A study led by Penelope Clearwater shows that a muggle woman impregnated by a wizard has a five percent chance of having a magical baby. After a lot of philosophical debates and a nation-wide referendum a Repopulation Encouragement Bill is passed. During a mandatory check-up Harry Potter pronounced completely sterile.

_**2012.**_ CERN announces a discovery of Higgs Boson. In Britain's Magical world, R&D announces a development of DoorNet, a network of connected doors – a much more comfortable mix between the unreliable Vanishing Cabinets and Floo Network.

_**2013.** _Earth's human population reaches 7 billion.

_**2014.**_ Hogwarts offers vacancies for every course due to dramatic increase of muggleborn students. Some start to say that Harry Potter looks remarkably young for his age.

_**2016.**_ Hermione Granger develops a system of checks and counter-checks to insure the government stays as meritocracy even centuries down the road. Seven other Wizarding states adopt Repopulation Encouragement Bill.

_**2020.** _It is confirmed that Harry Potter has gained some form of immortality due to uniting all three Hallows. He tries to retire from the Government and is forced to remain due to public outcry. Worldwide magical population reaches 7 million and continues to rise. CERN announce a first successful creation of antimatter.

_**2025.** _A muggle commercial project Mars One successfully founds first human settlement on Mars.

* * *

**A/N**: here it goes. All reviews are welcome, and big thanks for my beta, wonderful _**Kira Kyuu**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: this is a work of fiction. No profits are being made. All recognizable characters or situations belong to their respective owners.

**A/N:** here we start to encroach on Mass Effect territory with another major time-skip. A lot of it borrowed from official Mass Effect timeline, but there are some important differences.

The chapter have been beta'ed by **_Kira Kyuu_** and re-uploaded on May 13th.

**Chapter 2. The opportunity**

"We have it confirmed. Normals did found a first human settlement on Mars. It's only four people so far, but…"

"It's still impressive, yes," Hermione agreed. "But I don't think it concerns us, Harry."

"Ah, this is where you're wrong, my dear Ms. Minister," Harry smiled at her**_,_** "It's a perfect opportunity for us."

"It's opportunity to do what, exactly?"

"To come out of hiding, of course."

"Potter, you are being preposterous."

"Am I, Boot? Think about it. Our R&D is barely keeping up with all those new technologies normals continue to develop. They are advancing, and fast. They managed to create antimatter. Quantum Physics is developing by leaps and bounds. Prognoses say that they would manage to build a working tachyon receiver in a decade. That's an effective prophecy-device right here! How long would it take for them to discover magic?"

"Magic is magic, Potter, and don't you dare quote Arthur C. Clark at me!"

"Damn it, Boot, sooner or later we will slip, and they would discover us! What would then happen? It's in our best interest to come out ourselves."

"Let's not take it into this old debate, please," Hermione begged. "Harry, you said it was a perfect opportunity for us. Please explain."

"Certainly, Hermione. Look, mundane population is growing out of bounds. In another hundred years our poor planet won't be able to support humanity. We need more space, and Mars has a lot of it."

"Yes, but it's hardly as hospitable as Earth."

"True, but we are wizards, aren't we?"

"What exactly are you proposing?" Boot asked with a huff.

"Look, what is the main problem for normals? Lack of resources. They need more space, more metal, more fuel. What is stopping normals from a large-scale colonization of Mars? Lack of resources. They use enormous amounts of resources to send a tiny little ship in orbit. But we have space-expansion charms, shrinking charms, feather-light charms, cooling charms. Normals dream about creating a warp-drive, but we have DoorNet. We have solutions to all their problems at our fingertips."

"It is not exactly a new state for us, is it?"

"Ms. Clearwater is right, Harry. Magical world always had something Normal world needed," Hermione pointed out.

"I know it, and you know it, but do they know it?"

"Oh, I see what you mean!" Neville smirked. "They don't know shit about us!"

"Exactly!" Harry was glad that somebody finally caught on. "They can't call our bullshit. Why should we admit what we don't want to admit? Like existence of our own government, or our ability to erase their memories? We can control what they think about us, how they react. We just need to reveal ourselves at the right time, in the right places, to the right people. It's not easy, but it's doable."

"You know that World Council will never agree to it."

"That's why I will do it from Mars. No damn psycho-scientist, no damn trigger-happy government and no damn back-ass-wards bigots from the Wizarding World Council to stop me."

"You've decided, and no one will be able to dissuade you, right?" Hermione sighed, though there was a hint of affection in it.

"Nope. Should have let me retire."

"Are we even sure that you'll still have magic on Mars?"

"We are," Neville beat Harry to it. "We recorded no noticeable drop due to distance from the Earth when we planted an agent on ISS. All samples we sent survived."

"Still, you'll take some charged-up crystals with you, just in case."

"Yes, mum."

* * *

It wasn't hard to arrange a sudden accident (non-lethal, of course), and it's even easier to tweak Mars One databases. Sir Harold J. Black, Ph. D. in physics, 25, George Cross recipient, was chosen to replace an unfortunate Jerald McBucky in the next expedition. He breezed through the psychological evaluations, physical courses and special training. Pretty soon he was in orbit, getting ready for a year-long flight to Mars.

"At least this time there won't be so much overload, right, Black? Just a nice little acceleration. Man, I can't believe it's really happening. I used to think transatlantic was long."

"Well, we have a little more space than 747, Archi," Harry pointed out. "At least we won't be bored. Oh, wait…you will be."

"Yes I would."

"You are trapped in a tiny little capsule traversing the vast empty spaces, with two hot chicks, and you think you'll be bored?" questioned Anna, one of the mentioned 'hot chicks' and M.D. The other woman, an engineer Bella, just rolled her eyes at their antics and continued the pre-flight checks.

"Oh come on, Anna! I'm just a damn gardener, and there aren't any plants around to occupy my time day in and day out."

"You are Ph.D. in biology, not a gardener. We have laptops full of literature, records and films. Not to mention enough education materials to last for several lifetimes. And anyway, you wouldn't be here if you were easily bored."

"Archi, look in my eyes. This is eyes of a man who killed to defend innocents. If you even think about playing an 'are we there yet' game, I will do it again."

"Gosh, chill out, man."

"Gosh? Chill out? It's soooo twenty century."

* * *

**Lecture 14.** _The nature of magic_. Public lectures by Harry J. Potter, vol. 1.

All right, kiddies, to understand what magic is, you will need a paper and a pen, though a graphic redactor on your laptop would suffice too. You got it? Very well! Not please make a dot. Got it too? You're a marvellous audience.

Now, the dot you made is a point in prehistoric times. In this point, two of your very distant ancestors are preparing to go bison hunting. The only problem is that they don't have rifles, or crossbows, or bows, or even metal tips. All they have is a pointy stick that, with some imagination, could be called a hunting spear. And it's not nearly enough to kill a bison or a boar, not to mention a mammoth. So, what do your ancestors do?

What? Louder! Make a stone tip for their spear? Very good solution. Technical, logical, I'll even dare call it scientific. No joking, it's an excellent solution to their problem, and one of your ancestors indeed does that. Afterwards he teaches his brethren this amazing technique, later they learn to forge metal spears, invent a wheel and proceed to build modern civilization. Now please look on your dot. Make it a top-most dot on a yet invisible circle and draw a quarter of this circle from the dot in a clockwise direction. I'll give you time…you're all done? Excellent. Now forget about it for a moment and go back to your dot.

Need I remind you of its meaning? It's the point in the prehistoric times, where two of your distant ancestors…you remembered? Good, that's good. Now, we know what one of your ancestors did. What did the other? Come on, people, you know the answer! Think back to your history classes. Why all those cavemen drew pictures on their own walls? What? They believed it would help them to hunt?

Right, so they believed, you say. Right, what do you think: they believed it because it really did help them, or just because they were stupid ignorant savages? What? I don't understand you. Speak English, man, not this scientific gibberish. Did their drawings help them hunt, yes or no? No? So you believe that they were stupid ignorant savages. Well, if they were so stupid and so ignorant as to blindly believe in such obvious rubbish, how the hell did they manage to survive, reproduce and advance enough to result in such fine noble gentleman like you? Huh?

Right, so by the process of elimination we established what your second ancestor did. He took his stupid pointy stick, sang some prayers, danced through some rituals, drew something with the mix of animal blood and herbs…and as a result, his stupid pointy stick stuck right in the eye of an aforementioned bison, boar or even mammoth, instantly killing it without the need for stone or metal tips. So, what do we call this particular solution? It's magic, lads and lasses. It's magic.

Right back to your dot! Using it as a top-most point of a circle, draw a quarter of said circle in the counter-clockwise direction. All done? Excellent. Now it's time to remember your basic philosophy course. Is the amount of knowledge limited or is it infinite? Can a human learn true nature of the world? Well, let me tell you my opinion: if it is at all possible to represent the knowledge about the world on paper in a single line, it would be circle. Half the knowledge comes from science, half from the arcane. Science denies arcane, and arcane denies science. But think about it: our prehistoric ancestors did not squabble about whose method was right. They used both to succeed. Shall we do the same?

* * *

**_2027._** The existence of Magical beings is revealed. Mars settlement is linked to DoorNet. Human colonization of Mars truly begins. Magical people grudgingly unite under Britain's Government. History calls the revelation of magical societies and their integration with normal ones a Great Reunion.

**_2029._** It is finally proved that magical talent is not, if fact, a hereditary trait, and is determined by in utero exposure to stable arcane radiation. Even if exact requirements of such exposure can't be determined, the discovery promises rapid expansion for magical population.

**_2030._** The20 largest Earth countries ratify Declaration of Sentient Rights. Among the other things, a new Solar-wide authority title is established. Elders are beings with more than 50 years of experience leading their brethren and still fit for active duty. Any Elder has an authority to propose new bills and laws, and the Council of Elders can overrule any government decision.

**_2050._** Magical terraformation of Mars is completed. A whole northern continent is allocated as a preserve for flora and fauna both mundane and magical. Marsian cities heavily rely on magically enabled architecture, which saves both space and construction materials. A first working fusion reactor is built near the New Babylon. Works on miniaturized version are ongoing. Magic to normal ratio reaches 1%, though it is noted that the rate of growth dropped considerably in the last five years.

**_2075._** Implants are developed that enable manipulation of magic through nothing but concentration. After four decades of testing and experiments, a way to produce antimatter using magical automations is discovered. An unmanned terraformation of Venus is started.

**_2080._** On his 100 anniversary, Elder Harry Potter is officially designated as Patriarch of humanity – a title that allows the bearer to overrule the decisions of any human government or planetary-wide organization once a decade.

**_2100._** An experimental warp-drive is tested. All living subjects are dead upon exiting a warp-bubble. Eldfell-Lupin Energy demonstrates helium-3 conversion into antimatter. Exploration of Solar system brings unexpected results: Charon, Pluto's moon, is actually an enormous dormant alien device of unknown purpose. This discovery motivates humanity to start building a military fleet and autonomous defence stations all through the solar system with large concentrations above Earth and Mars. The creation of a stable miniaturized version of fusion reactor, designated Arc Reactor in honour of a comic series, allows the use of hand-held energy weapons. Popular culture calls hand-held energy cannons as "blasters" and hand-held energy blades as "lightsabers".

**_2137._** A first stable warp-drive allowing for passage of living beings is created. Upon the first human-manned test it's discovered that visual effects are quite consistent with ones from the XX century movies. In honor of them, all new warp-drives dubbed "hyperdrives".

**_2148._** A small cache of alien technology is discovered deep beneath the south polar region of Mars. Reverse-engineering the technology, humanity discovers Element Zero and its use in Mass Effect Physics. The technology is considered largely ineffective and useless.

**_2149._** Using the information from the alien data cache discovered on Mars, a small exploration fleet is outfitted with base Element Zero drives. What now known to be a Mass Relay is activated, and Admiral Grissom leads the first expedition through the Mass Relay. Neville Longbottom dies, leaving Harry Potter the oldest human in existence.

**_2150._** System Alliance charter is signed by national governments of Earth and planetary government of Mars. Alliance becomes a military, economical and exploratory spearhead of humanity. Earth-like planet of Terra Nova is discovered and the first colonization outside the Sol System begins. Additionally, it's discovered that DoorNet doesn't work beyond one solar system. To protect the existing colonies and any future ones from possible alien beings, Alliance begins construction of a massive military fleet.

**_2151._** In the Arcturus system, the large hub for Mass Relay network, the construction of massive military station begins. Elder Council strongly cautions against stretching the military fleets in the rapid exploration. Until every chartered and colonized system has an adequate protection, all new exploration of Mass Relay network is forbidden.

**_2155._** Use of a Mass Relay allows Alliance to discover and colonize 15 Earth-like planets. Terraforming of another 70 planets outside of Relay network is begun. The goal of rapid colonization is turning the homeworld into a natural preserve for magical beings, with strictly limited human presence.

**_2156._** The construction of Acturus Station is finished. The station becomes the headquarters for System Alliance.

**_2157._** During an attempt to activate a primary Relay Alliance exploration fleet is fired upon by an alien fleet without any attempt at communication. SSV Baldur AS-1, the autonomous support class ship with largest real-space profile is destroyed in the first salvo. Fleet commander, Elder Nathaniel Greengrass, orders an immediate retreat. Exploration fleet uses a short-range FTL jump to a Relay and retreats to Shanxi, the newest of System Alliance colonies.

* * *

**A/N**: Mars One project really exists, you can google it and submit your resume to become an astronaut))

Warp-drive is possible within Standard Model. In recent years some students from MIT developed a specific shape that drastically reduces amounts of energy and anti-mass needed for its work.

Expect the next chapter sometime soon.

Again, very big thanks for my beta, wonderful _**Kira Kyuu**_!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** this is a work of fiction. No profits are being made. All recognizable characters or situations belong to their respective owners.

**A/N:** hope this answers some of the questions and points raised in the reviews.

It have been pointed out to me that in 2151 Alliance forbids further expansion without sufficient protection, yet manages to colonise 15 worlds in the space of four years. That's how I see it: a ME-canon humanity managed to colonise literally hundreds of worlds though all the galaxy in less than 40 years. In this fic, humanity have access to magic, which makes everything - spaceship construction and colonisation efforts included - much easier and cost-efficient.

The chapter have been beta'ed by **_Kira Kyuu_** and re-uploaded on May 15th.

**Chapter 3. The First Contact**

Despite running to the furthest planet in human territory and throwing himself in building, teaching and mindless exploring, Harry couldn't fully escape the memories. He moved on – eventually – and learned to live in the moment, but he could never forget.

It was twenty years ago. Twenty years ago his first – and best – friend succumbed to age. Far too early for a witch of her power, but their generation went through hell, what with Voldemort and rebuilding their world, and Hermione in particular never stopped. It was her intelligence and work ethics that spearheaded Magical Britain into a new era, her drive and passion that united muggleborns and progressive purebloods, her dedication and faith that made the Reunion possible. They all helped, of course, but Harry was sure that without Hermione Granger Magical Britain would've simply died out.

So when some damn Alliance soldier interrupted the première of _The Brightest Witch_, half-fiction half-documentary movie dedicated to the memory of Hermione Granger, only to announce that Harry Potter was required – immediately – to report to Shanxi's garrison, said Harry Potter was understandably pissed. He apparated directly to the Command Centre.

"What's with the emergency summons, General Williams?"

"Patriarch Potter, we have a situation."

Patriarch of Humanity. Harry hated this title. It was her idea to institute it. All to bind him to his humanity, to connect him with the people. To make him feel responsible. And damn it, but it actually worked.

"What is it?" Harry asked, eyeing an attractive Second Lieutenant at the console. He may be sterile and well over a century old, but it didn't make him any less male in his prime. Besides, he wasn't completely sure that he wouldn't accidentally set the General on fire. It was better to distract himself with admiring a pretty woman that concentrate on the source of his irritation.

"Our exploratory fleet just reported back in. They were fired upon by an alien fleet while attempting to activate a dormant Mass Relay."

That was enough for Harry to forget all about his irritation.

"Losses?"

"No casualties, but their autonomous support ship was destroyed."

"Probably because it was the largest in the fleet. I assume you are mobilizing the defence fleet?"

"Already did, they would be in positions around the Relay in half an hour. Orbital defence platforms are primed and ready, ground defence would be fully ready in an hour, but it would be twelve hours before we can expect any reinforcements. Evacuations are still ongoing."

"Looks like you have the situation well in hand, General."

"Thank you, sir. I would still like your input."

"Of course. Tell me, how exactly aliens managed to surprise us? Do they have stealth-capabilities, or are their weapons are that effective in the long range?"

"From what I understand, they used projectiles. Slugs of metal accelerated to a fraction of speed of light."

"With right calculations their reach is almost limitless, but…projectiles? Are we sure?"

"My analytics are."

"Still…it doesn't mean they don't have anything else. Maybe they just use projectiles for long-distance engagements. I suppose it won't hurt to reconfigure ships wards. Just make sure that they would shield us from conventional weapons as well as kinetic ones. And order all crews to prime their emergency portkeys."

"I will, sir."

* * *

"They're gone, sir."

"Whoever they are, they sure are cowardly. Battle formation – we'll follow them and teach them a lesson."

"ETA to Mass Relay is fifteen minutes, sir."

"What do we know about those… newcomers?"

There was a notable pause as his aide gathered information and tried to make sense of it.

"Sir, it's strange…when they jumped to the Relay, massive amounts of energy were detected, but no traces of Element Zero. It's like they weren't using Mass Effect fields at all. And…we detected no change in formation prior to short-range FTL jump. They seemed to be already facing the correct direction."

"General, it's clearly a First Contact situation. Shouldn't we notify the Council?"

"No attempt to return fire, no ship larger than a small cruiser…we're dealing with a species that barely left their homeworld. This is a turian matter, we'll notify the Council about it when we acquire a client race."

"Shouldn't we at least notify the Palaven Command? Request reinforcements?"

"If we mobilize the fleets, those damn salarians will surelynotice, and then the Council would meddle in what is clearly a Hierarchy affair. We have enough firepower to subjugate an infant race**_,_** anyway. Proceed as ordered."

"Yes, sir. All ships are in position. Relay is hot, acquiring an approach vector. Prepare for FTL in five…four…three…two…one! Jump successful. Scanning… Enemy ships detected in defensive formation around the Relay. Thirty four ships in total, no dreadnoughts, five cruisers, and the rest are frigates."

"Concentrate fire on the cruisers."

"Calculating trajectory…massive energy signatures detected! Their firing on us! Five of our cruisers are gone!"

"What?! How is that…" The sound of emergency alarms blaring cut him off. "What is it?"

"We were hit. Left port GARDIAN array is offline, we're venting atmosphere from multiple points."

"How's that possible?!"

"They are using some kind of energy weapons, long-range lasers or something even more powerful. Our kinetic barriers weren't triggered."

"Then drop them, divert all power to weapons. We outnumber them 10 to 1, we will prevail!"

"Enemy cruisers are down. Spirits, they are charging weapons again! Brace! Accessing damage…half of our GUARDIAN arrays are down, main weapon is offline."

"No matter, our frigates are entering knife-range."

"Sir, it looks like their shields are capable of deflecting GARDIAN fire."

"Damn it! Launch fighters, hit them with everything we have! We've got to deal with these newcomers here and now, before they can become a bigger threat."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

"Defence fleet is gone."

"How many did we lose?" Harry hated to ask this question. He hated it when people died. Because damn it, like it or not, he was the Patriarch of Humanity, and they were his people.

"Most managed to portkey away when their ships were damaged, but…"

"How many?"

"Ninety seven."

"Nearly a hundred. And we've bound to lose more when these bastards get their troops on the ground. What do we know about them so far?"

"They won with numbers, mostly. Their ships have absolutely no shielding against our weapons, but they seem to have some weak short-range laser weapons. Also, we detected no arcane discharges during the battle."

Harry was surprised to hear this. Magic worked everywhere. There were literally regions of magic yet untapped. How could an entire species evolve without discovering some form of it? Damn, a simple prayer was a magical act.

"No magic at all? Even the most basic hyperdrive gives off arcane radiation."

"Nothing to suggest they utilize it knowingly. Their entire tech seems to be relying on Mass Effect technology."

"Could they be those… Protheans, they're called?"

"That was the question I asked too. My techies say that if those bastards are protheans, then they regressed in the past fifty thousand years."

They were interrupted by the same attractive Lieutenant Harry eyed earlier.

"Sir, enemy fleet will be in orbit in five minutes."

"Here we go… All AA emplacements, charge. Do not let them land anywhere near the city. We need another half an hour to complete the evacuations."

Harry sighed and checked his battle gear. It was nearly a century since the time he used it in actual combat. Everything seemed to be in order, everything still fit like a glove. Oh, the advantages of being immortal locked in his prime.

"I'll go and do some damage. Good luck, General Williams."

Harry apparated to the roof of tallest building in the city of Shanxi and surveyed the situation. Those aliens were launching what seemed like thousands of ships down into planet's atmosphere. Mostly fighters and what he could classify as gunships, and about a hundred large bulky transports. He'll target those first. With a thought he launched himself in the air, heading for the nearest enemy transport.

Unaided flight was the only part of Voldemort's legacy that he enjoyed. Brooms were fun, but ability to simply soar through the air without any form of support…there was something truly magical and a little epic about it. It took Harry nearly four decades of research to replicate this. In some regards, flight was akin to occlumency or animagus transformation – it was something you achieved on your own, not something you learned in a classroom.

Harry sent a cutter into a passing fighter and felt grim satisfaction when the spell cleaved the craft in two. He wasn't the only human in the skies – he saw some wizards on brooms harassing every alien craft they could, and about fifty 'Iron Men' – Alliance mobile infantry fitted with personal flying armour powered by miniature fusion reactors. He finally reached the transport he was hunting and raised the Elder Wand. The blasting curse took out its engines, sending the transport careening into the ground below. Harry surveyed the skies and realized something.

"This is Patriarch Potter. Have all forces in the air concentrate on the transport ships. Enemy seems to be unable to detect us."

With that, he streaked in to sow more chaos.

* * *

When General Desolas Arterius stepped into a gunship to lead his troops onto the ground, he already knew that he made a grave mistake. He knew that this planet, with just one city of moderate size, simply couldn't be a new species' homeworld. There wasn't enough industry. The planet seemed largely untouched. It was a colony world.

Still, he didn't stop his advance, did not attempted to communicate. It would be folly to show weakness now. So he led his troops onto the planet with full intention of stomping out any resistance and capturing their amazing technologies. His decimated patrol fleet won't last long against any meaningful reinforcements, so he called for his own. In two weeks**_, _**the full might of Turian Fourth and Fifth Fleets would descend onto these newcomers, forcing them to accept Hierarchy as their betters. He just needed to last those two weeks, and he was prepared to hold civilians hostage if all else failed.

The aliens' only military base was located right in the centre of their city, and their AA grid was thick enough to curb any attempt to land in the city proper. So he ordered his army to deploy at safe distance. But he underestimated those aliens yet again. They managed to destroy the majority of his transports using some sort of personal flying heavy armour – small enough to be nearly undetectable by conventional means, quick and nimble enough to evade any attempts to target them using sight, and with enough firepower to bring down heavy transports in one or two shots. He lost a lot of AFVs, but more importantly – a lot of supplies. Heavy tanks and other machinery would be largely useless in the urban warfare, but an army can't fight without medicaments or food. And this was a levo-world, so he couldn't just raid enemy's stores. But he was turian, and he would prevail.

* * *

It took a lot time for aliens to organize an effective defence, so when they did, Harry ordered all air units to pull out. Alliance military doctrine dictated minimal loss of civilian lives as first priority and minimal loss of their personnel as second. Cities and ships could be rebuilt, but life was precious. By the time aliens even reached Shanxi all non-combatants were safely evacuated in unplottable bunkers somewhere on the other side of the planet, so they were safe already, and it would be a trivial matter to deal with the invaders with the reinforcements that General Williams requested. So Harry was content with simply harassing those aliens while waiting for the cavalry.

"Good job out there, Patriarch."

"Thank you, Williams, and simply Potter is fine when we're out of battle situation. What our enemies are doing now?"

"I'm not sure. They are surrounding the city right now. I admit, I'm at loss with their intentions."

"You're overthinking it, Williams. From what we gathered, they have quite primitive tech and no conventional magic. That means they do not think like we would think. They are surrounding the city to either lay it under siege – which is stupid and in our favour – or to storm us from multiple directions, forcing us to split our attention and forces."

"I see…well then, I know what to do now. Thanks, sir. Your expertise saved a lot of lives today."

"Don't mention it."

* * *

CODEX: Alliance Navy.

**Frigates:** due to use of space-expansion charms, very few spaceships in Alliance Navy exceed 200 meters in length, and by galactic standards would be classified as frigates. Exact configurations vary from ship to ship, though there are some common characteristics. All modern Alliance spaceships are equipped with a hyperdrive as well as abasic element zero engine – first is used for normal FTL travel, and second purely for transit through Relay network. Also, all Alliance 'frigates' are equipped with at least one long-distance energy weapon able to slice through four meters of solid steel in one shot. A pin-point shot could pierce trough a turian cruiser, and a swipe can cut a turian frigate in half.

Alliance Navy uses differently configured frigates as close-range heavy-hitters, long-range bombardiers, or troop deployers. Since there is no visual way to recognize one from the other, enemy cannot prioritize their attacks and is forced to deal with whole fleet at once.

**Autonomous support ships**: autonomous support ships are completely unmanned and not capable of any military action. They are simple metal boxes with an engine, an autopilot and mild space-expansion charm, used to carry large amounts of cargo for long-time expeditions. Due to simplicity of enchantments, AS ships are the cheapest in the Alliance Navy, despite reaching up to 700 hundred meters in length. During the First Contact War Alliance Navy used those as decoys – invading turians assumed that bigger ships presented a bigger threat and concentrated their first salvos on them.

CODEX: Alliance ground forces.

**Alliance military doctrine**: after the Great Reunion – the revelation of magical societies and their integration with normal ones – it quickly became apparent that ХХ and ХХI century military doctrine was bust. Superior technologies and weapons could not stand against a single well-trained mage. Even another mage of equal power and skill could not stop an offending one from causing tremendous damage to civilian population and infrastructure. Simple numbers remained the only effective defence against such attacker.

With formation of Alliance, military doctrine solidified to its current form. Mobility and adaptability became the key element of successful offence, thus raising a value of each such soldier, while numerous and evenly-spread infantry becomes the main defensive measure.

**Iron Men:** Iron Men, named after a popular XX century comic series, are Alliance rapid-response multipurpose troops, normal humans capable of meeting battle-mages in one-on-one combat. A flight-capable suit of armour powered by a miniaturized fusion reactor and armed with powerful blaster cannons, Iron Men combine high mobility with devastating firepower.

* * *

**A/N:** as always, all reviews are welcome, though if you want to be taken seriously, please sign in to your account and allow PM so I could reply to you. I would not answer individual reviews before/after the chapters, as some authors like to do. Constructive criticism will be taken into consideration and implemented. Non-constructive criticism will likely end up as a source of amusement.

Big thanks to SilverReindeer for his input. He should write stories))

A word of warning: don't expect quick and regular updates, the story is far from finished, and I'm not that ahead.

Big thanks for my beta, **_Kira Kyuu_ **for reading this over and helping me to improve!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer**: this is a work of fiction. No profits are being made. All recognizable characters or situations belong to their respective owners.

**A/N:** Kira Kyuu agreed to be my beta! Previous chapters have been re-uploaded. There are some minor additions and a lot less grammar/spelling mistakes.

The chapter have been beta'ed by **_Kira Kyuu_** and uploaded on May 16th.

**Chapter 4. The Occupation of Shanxi**

Gunship pilot Lureg Tirbal did not feel happy to be turian right now. A routine border patrol turned into a bloody invasion of unknown alien race. Oh, what's the matter, right? Turians were supposed to be the best, the most numerous, the most disciplined, the best equipped. Only those fucking aliens were just better. How in the name of Spirits their technology could be so much better? Even protheans didn't have energy weapons powerful enough to slice through a cruiser in two shots. Those armoured flying suits were a nightmare. They destroyed half of the heavy transports before anyone even managed to realize what exactly was attacking them. Lureg was part of the group which managed to destroy one of those suits, and damn thing took twice the damage a gunship could before going down. But before they could take down another one, all those things just left.

Now rumours said that with so many transports gone, they had only a week's worth of supplies, and that's including ones still in orbit. But fucking General Arterius didn't know when to quit. So now Lureg was assigned to ferrying troops from the landing zones to the outskirts of alien's city. And what a strange city it was – round, consisting only of skyscrapers, with tallest hundred-stories ones in the middle and others gradually lowering from centre to edges. And every damn one of them had an AA cannon placed on its roof, so Lureg was forced to fly really close to the ground and keep his distance at all costs. It's like the whole city was built to withstand aerial attack – but it was obviously a colony world, and probably fairly new! What kind of freaky species build colonies like that? No, Lureg Tirbal didn't feel happy to be turian.

* * *

Eighteen year old Lieutenant Nathaniel Shepard was bored out of his mind. His ship was one of the first to lose shields and be blown down, so he, along with the rest of the crew, automatically portkeyed back to Shanxi. Being a first-gen techno-mage with virtually no combat training or healing abilities, he was useless on the battlefield and so was left with the most boring job imaginable: enchanting return portkeys for soldiers.

"Psst, Nat! Nathaniel!"

"What, Hannah?" he sighed with resignation. Hannah Stine – what a stupid name for an Earthborn girl – was the most upbeat and chatty witch he ever met. She was a magineer, a mage specializing in magical engineering and construction. They met two month ago here on Shanxi during one of his shore leaves. Normally he quite liked her, but now her upbeat nature just grated on his nerves.

"Look to your left, discreetly. See that man chatting with the corporal?"

Nathaniel squinted – the room they were working in was quite gloom for whatever reason – and looked. Colonel Jones was saying something to a black haired man in simple black robes. After a few seconds, the man nodded and went to work in the corner not so far from where Nathaniel was sitting.

"Yeah, I see him. Nothing to be so excited over."

"Nothing exciting?! It's Harry Potter! Like**_, _**as in Patriarch Harry Potter! Like**_,_** the most interesting and exciting man of all times!"

Nathaniel snorted.

"Yeah, sure! There is nothing so special about this guy. And anyway, what would Patriarch Potter even be doing on this damn colony, not to mention wasting his time by enchanting those damn portkeys?"

"Every portkey we make can save a life!"

"I'm not saying they aren't important. I'm saying that Harry bloody Patriarch Potter probably has something a little more exciting to do."

"I suppose you're right," Hannah sighed. "He was supposed to give a free lecture on magical engineering next month, here on Shanxi, and I was so looking forward to it. Now I imagine he would be too busy, what with whole alien invasion business."

"Yeah."

They never noticed how the man in the corner sighed with quiet relief.

* * *

Lureg was covering one of the initial offences on the city when his luck finally ran out. The ground group was stalled at a well-made barricade, and he was ordered to provide covering fire to allow them to advance and lay charges. There was a flash of red light, and his left thruster exploded. He careened into a barricade, and there was black.

He came to his senses inside a well-lit cubic room with white walls and a singular chair he was tied to. So he wasn't dead, but instead taken prisoner. Judging by a headache of enormous proportions, he hit his head quite hard during the crash. Spirits, he was so retiring if he manages to live this shit through. For a few moments he just sat there, and then a door opened in the seemingly solid wall to his left, and two of those aliens walked inside. It was a first good look for Lureg, and he was quite surprised with what he saw.

Bipedal, walking straight, with the soft-looking yellowish skin similar to asari, and one of them had those strange mammal glands on her chest – just like asari. A female, probably – this alien was more slender and short, even looked weaker than her companion.

"Greetings, prisoner. My name is Alex Volkov, and my companion's is Irina Shriben. What is your name?"

Lureg was startled. How the hell did he understand them? They took his omnitool, stripped him of everything, including his own clothes. So how the hell did he understood it? Were those aliens speaking turian?

"What is your name?" the male, Alex Volkov, repeated his question more forcefully.

"Lureg Tirbal, private QR-76751-A."

"Translation spell is working," the female said seemingly to no one. The male continued interrogation.

"What does the word private mean? Please explain in simple terms."

Lureg just sat there for a second. Instructions say that the only question he could answer was about his name and designation, but…was he really willing to antagonize his captors by refusing to answer a simple question, a question in no way related to the ongoing invasion?

"Private is a lowest acting rank in the Hierarchy."

"What is the Hierarchy?"

"Hierarchy is our government."

"Thank you for clarifying. Irina and I are of the human species. We are humans. What do you call your species?" Humans, they called themselves? Interesting.

"I am turian."

"Turian is the name of your species?"

"Yes."

"Do you know why your species attacked ours?"

"I believe we attacked because you were attempting to activate a primary Mass Relay."

"Mass Relay is a big device that allows quick travels between different stars, right? And primary Relay is the kind that is connected to one other a great distance away?"

"Err…yes, if a little more complicated."

"Oh, I'm aware of that**_._**" human's mouth was such an expressive organ. A lot like asari's. Was this called…a smile? "The purpose of our little chat is to provide a basis for translation program, that's all."

"How can I understand you in the first place?"

"Oh? That headache you're feeling – we simply planted one of our simpler languages into your head."

Lurig just stared at him blankly. They…planted the language in his head? Was it a device, or did those…humans…have the means of directly manipulating his mind? How the hell it was even possible?

"What did you do to me?"

"A simple hypnosis," the human waved the question away, but Lureg had the feeling that he was lying. "Now, back to business. Our fleet attempted to activate this Mass Relay, and yours fired at us. Why?"

"Activating primary Relays is against Citadel conventions…I mean Citadel laws. No one knows what can be lying behind."

"Citadel? I though your government was called a Hierarchy?"

* * *

"Those new ones are some kind of battlemages! Goddamn aliens!" Gunnery Chief Massani barely managed to duck another of those weird blue energy balls the enemies kept throwing on them. It hit a building and the material…twisted and rippled, shaping and dissolving at the same time. Zaeed didn't have the time to look – he was too busy shooting his blaster at the advancing aliens. After five hours of skirmishes those attacking bastards were finally giving their all – and the defenders of Shanxi were simply too few to hold their ground. The rapid response groups were struggling, so, in order to lessen the ground they had to cover, General Williams ordered a tactical withdrawal.

So they retreated. Organized and smooth, they retreated all at once as to not give the enemy even a chance to outflank them. Goddamn aliens were paying for every meter they took, but their morale was boosting. Their casualties dropped rather noticeably when some genius made improvised metal shields to defend themselves from the blaster fire. They thought they were winning. They never stopped to count and learn that for every human they managed to injure or kill, they lost at least fifty of their own.

But those alien mages were something else. They still died when you hit them with a blaster bolt to the chest, but they were quicker, fought smarter, and had some sort of powers that allowed them to kill in one hit. Soon they would push through, and that was unacceptable. Zaeed refused to fold and expose other units to a flanking manoeuvre. He refused to fail.

"We need to stop those battlemages. There aren't so many of them. I want volunteers."

"You have a plan, Chief?"

"Those bastards learned to duck, so we take them in close quarters. We make a show of running, and the couple of us hides in the rubble. When they are upon us, we chop them to bits. But we'll have to switch our portkeys into manual."

"I volunteer."

"Count me in."

"Right, let's show those goddamn alien rookies what we're made from."

On his mark, the rest of the squad started running. Emboldened by apparent victory, alien bastards rushed forward…right onto lightsabers of an ambush party. Their cries of alarm were music to Zaeed's ears. Those fucking alien battlemages were good, but they weren't good enough. Their fucking body-glowing shows weren't as effective in close quarters. Their improvised shields were rather good against standard-issue Alliance blasters, but against the solid energy blade of a lightsaber those shields counted for nothing. Zaeed hacked and slashed and impaled, and it was goddamn fucking wonderful to teach those bastards the meaning of fear. He let the blood-rage cloud his vision and dull the pain from his injuries. He heard the shouts and blaster fire as he lay on the ground and his red blood diluted the purple alien one. Last thing he saw before all become black were the eyes of the comrade who manually triggered his return portkey.

* * *

"General, it's been thirteen hours since we notified Arcturus about the attack. Where are those blasted reinforcements?"

"I just got word that reinforcements would be arriving in another five hours, Patriarch."

"We can't continue like this, Williams. We already lost nearly three hundred, counting loses from the space battle. Another two hundred are in critical condition, with fifteen hundred injured. Rapid support groups are exhausted. Somehow, we have to turn the tide of this stupid battle."

"Our intelligence says that those turians have very rigid command structure, and their commanders aren't all sitting in the same place. Even if we eliminate General Arterius, the current commander, it won't take them long to find a replacement."

"Then we persuade this general."

"Patriarch, I will be court-marshalled if I do what you're suggesting," Williams said quietly. After all, rules like that were the reason why they even bothered with conventional engagement in the first place.

"I wrote that law, Williams, and do not appreciate the insinuation. I suggest we persuade. Literally."

"What do you need me to do?" General asked plainly.

* * *

Those aliens were running. After testing their defences, Desolas realized something amazing – defenders were very few for a colony that large. Ten thousand total, with about five hundred pulled and formed into rapid response teams. Those teams were devastating to his troops, but they weren't everything. So he ordered a full-out assault, and it paid off. With his troops pressing from all sides, aliens started to retreat. For some reasons aliens didn't use the buildings to fire on his troops. What's more, for some reason all reports said that those buildings have no visible entrances. Perhaps they were all underground? No matter. Soon the defenders would be completely surrounded and contained inside their base, or better yet, they would breach the ring and run. Desolas could taste victory.

There was a blinding flash, a bang and the smell of ozone. When his disorientation abated, Desolas found himself sitting in his own chair and looking into green eyes. Green eyes belonging to an alien. Desolas froze.

"Go ahead, look around," alien prompted in turian. Desolas did, and saw that his command centre was overrun by those aliens. All his personnel laid there, clearly knocked-out. He wanted to freak out, but held himself in check.

"You came to capture me?"

"I came to talk, General Arterius. Alice, be a dear and hand over latest casualty reports. Thank you," his captor took a datapad another alien gave him, and Desolas realized that it wasn't alien's casualty report. It was turian's. "What do we have here? Sixty four thousand dead, with another twenty three injured. How much troops you had at the start, General? Two hundred thousand give or take few thousand?"

"I won't tell you anything."

"Oh, I know I'm right. I'm simply reminding you about the fact. Want to hear some intelligence? At the beginning of a day, we had eleven thousand troops, plus about a thousand volunteers. You ordered an attack on us, 'to teach us a lesson' about what happens when we break the laws of your Citadel Council, laws we had no idea about. You attacked us without provocation or attempt at the dialogue. Because of your actions, three hundred of my people are dead."

"You're lying."

He had to! Three hundred? They lost three hundred where he lost nearly ninety thousand? It wasn't possible! Simply wasn't!

"Why would I? Death is no laughing matter, General. You see, we, humans, value life very highly. But we are no pushovers. We make all possible – and some impossible, from your point of view – precautions to save lives of our civilians and our military personnel. We do not save money on our troop's equipment or training. And above all we use any means necessary to ensure that any stupid fuck who dares to threaten us will never do so again," this alien, human, paused and looked Desolas in the eyes. Those burning green orbs sure looked serious. "So far we've been generous while dealing with you. We defended ourselves to the best of our ability, but we gave you every chance to stop your assault and start a dialogue. Now we give you the last chance to stop the unnecessary carnage of your troops. Believe me when I'm saying that only our leniency and the high value we give to life – any life – are saving your army from total annihilation. You attempted to fuck with us for whatever retarded reason and you lost. Admit it and tell you troops to stand down. While we were talking, my troops raided all of your warehouses and confiscated all of your supplies. So here is my offer: you tell your troops to stand down and surrender, and we make sure they are fed. You continue to attack, and all of your men here on the planet and up in orbit would die – either from our weapons or from the lack of food."

"And what would you do if I order the orbital bombardment of your colony, human?"

Desolas was bluffing, but he hoped that humans would not call it. He was wrong: his captor was not amused by an empty treat.

"I will laugh watching Palaven burn in the nuclear fire."

And somehow, Desolas believed him. In the next moment, there was a crack, a flare of light, and the humans were gone from his command centre.

* * *

CODEX: Alliance infantry weapons.

The development of miniaturized fusion reactors prompted the creation of hand-held energy weapons – something that humanity was fantasizing about for better part of a century. First prototypes of miniaturized fusion reactors, named Arc Reactors yielded very large amounts of energy, but were nonetheless quite bulky, ten-centimetre-sized cubes. Later, Alliance developed a more compact version – considerably less powerful and long-lasting, two-centimetre long and one centimetre wide cylinders, named fuel cells by popular culture. Their development lead Alliance into putting first hand-held energy weapons into mass production.

**Blasters** are hand-held cannons that are able to propel small amounts of super-heated positively charged plasma along the narrow electromagnetic field. Due to natural diffraction of EM-field outside of a barrel, blaster's accuracy is directly dependent on the length of its barrel, and due to the rapid cooling of plasma charge, infantry blasters do not have very long reach. A standard issue Alliance blaster pistol has effective reach of two hundred meters, has effective accuracy of fifty meters and can shoot thirty charges per minute. There are four standard blaster configurations – a long-barrelled sniper rifle, a multi-purpose assault rifle, a short-barrelled rapid-fire gun (called short-gun or shotgun for linguistic reasons) and a pistol.

**Lightsabers** are hand-held blades of super-heated positively charged plasma contained in the extremely powerful narrow electromagnetic field. Due to extreme potency of the blade, it can overwhelm any standard energy shield in the matter of seconds and able to cut through virtually all normal materials with extreme ease. Use of lightsabers requires extensive training due to dangers involved.

Due to the fact that all lightsabers utilize positively charged plasma, it is virtually impossible to cross two blades due to electromagnetism, thus enabling blocking and therefore duelling. It is extremely dangerous yet popular and prestigious sport in Alliance.

* * *

**A/N:** I want to thank every one who bothered to put up a review. So, without further ado, I say: thank you! It's certainly a major confidence booster for any author.

Big thanks for **Kira Kyuu** for beta'ing this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** this is a work of fiction. No profits are being made. All recognizable characters or situations belong to their respective owners.

**A/N:** big thank you for everyone who supports this story by reviewing or putting it on your alert/favourite list!

The chapter have been beta'ed by **_Kira Kyuu_** and uploaded on May 23rd.

**Chapter 5. The negotiations**

Half an hour since Harry's friendly visit to the turian general**_, _**the turians surrendered. Another four hours later Admiral Grissom arrived with full might of Alliance Fourth and Fifth Fleets. All available mage-engineers were tasked with construction of temporary shelters for turians. An Earth-day after their surrender**_,_** the majority of turians were relocated into a newly-built POW camp, and Shanxi's civilians were finally allowed to return to their homes.

Four days after turians' surrender, there was a major briefing aboard the Fifth Fleet flagship, the _Executor_ – one-of-a-kind nineteen-kilometre long super-dreadnought, working replica of Darth Vader's flagship and the mobile factory all at once. Alliance Minister of Defence, Arthur Lupin, conducted the briefing.

"Ladies and gentlemen, honourable Elders, Patriarch. On behalf of Alliance government, let me first express our thanks for everyone involved in this tragic First Contact situation. You've performed admirably. Now, onto business, and first in order is the issue with establishing peaceful relations with the Turian Hierarchy and galactic community at large. Turian commander, General Desolas Arterius, admitted that he expects arrival of two full turian Fleets in the next six Earth-standard days. For reference, each fleet is ten times the size of his patrol fleet."

"Arterius fired first, mainly because he thought that he had both numbers and power on his side," General Williams pointed out. "There is a strong chance that whoever is leading those turian fleets would do the same. With two of our fleets and intelligence we gathered about their technology we'll be able to defeat them, but losses are inevitable."

"That's why it's imperative we prevent further escalation of this conflict," Lupin nodded. "Our best chance would be to directly appeal to the Citadel Council and ask them to intervene. We have the location of the Citadel, our techs managed to extract other galactic languages from the captured omni-tools, and we have their normal frequencies. We can communicate with them."

"The only problem would be to make sure they don't shoot first, ask questions later," Admiral Grissom pointed out.

"We can disguise our ambassadors in order to blend in with other races."

"And appear like we want to avoid conflict at all cost?" Harry snorted. "This turian general was very proud that turians have the largest military fleet in the galaxy. But he says that asari have the best individual troopers, and salarians have best intelligence services. Galactic politics are all about who's the best at what – a glorified dick measuring contest. I say we take the _Executor_ and win by default."

"With all due respect, Patriarch, I'm not sure that it's the best approach," Jon Grissom said with all tact he could muster.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing," Harry deadpanned.

* * *

"Leen, you're seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yeah…inform the matriarch that there is something wrong with the Widow Relay."

"On it."

The Matriarch arrived in hurry – Mass Relays were the epitome of stability, and any irregularities with the workings of one were potentially devastating. After getting the readings, she ordered the_ Destiny Ascension_ to move so that Relay was visible from the bridge. It was glowing much brighter than usual, and emitting massive amounts of energy – to the point that there was an actual electrical storm around it.

"This is Matriarch Lidanya of _Destiny Ascension_ to Citadel Control. There is something wrong with the Widow Relay."

"What? What's happening?"

"Its glow started to intensify a minute ago, and it's still happening. It's emitting a lot of energy, and the amount continues to grow. We don't know what's happening, but I advise closing the arms in case the Relay is about to blow. I'm moving the Citadel fleets away from it now."

"Copy, closing the Citadel Arms."

A spike from the Relay nearly blinded the matriarch, and when her vision returned, she couldn't even see a Relay anymore. It was completely hid by an enormous triangular ship.

"Goddess! What is this thing?! It's bigger than the Relay!"

"Matriarch?"

"Close the Arms now! An enormous ship of alien design just jumped through the Relay! It's half the size of a Citadel!"

"What? Impos…"

"Close the Arms now!" Lidanya shouted. She couldn't believe it either, but both her eyes and the instruments couldn't be wrong.

"Closing the Arms."

"Citadel Defence fleet, this is Matriarch Lidanya! Form defensive perimeter around the Citadel, but hold fire! Hold fire!"

"Matriarch, they're hauling us on our own frequency."

"Patch it through! This is Matriarch Lidanya, commander of _Destiny Ascension_ and Citadel Defence fleet. Identify yourself."

There was a two-second pause, and then the answer came – in the asari Thessia dialect, though the voice was clearly synthesized.

"Greetings, Matriarch Lidanya. I am an ambassador for the Systems Alliance, Anita Goyle. Eight standard Citadel days ago our exploration fleet came under attack from the turian patrol fleet under command of General Arterius. Upon his surrender, we learned about the Citadel Council, and I was sent here to negotiate the cessation of fire between us and the Turian Hierarchy, as well as our integration into galactic community at large."

"I…" for the first time in centuries, Lidanya was at loss. Ambassador's claims were, on one side, completely ridiculous, but so was the size of her ship. "I will relay your message to the Council."

"Please do. The _Executor_ is standing by."

As she prepared to contact the Council, Lidanya had to wonder – just what kind of race called the ship carrying their diplomatic mission The _Executor_?

* * *

Councillor Tevos was the epitome of calm – at least, outwardly – while she waited for her turian counterpart to obtain confirmation from Palaven. He was kept in the dark like the rest of the Council – not that it did anyone any good. Finally, he returned from the comm-room.

"Well, Lavernus?"

"I've got confirmation," the turian councillor was grim. No one likes to be kept in the dark in important matters, especially when it ends in a fuck-up of epic proportions. At least the Council as a whole had plausible deniability. "Those aliens were activating the dormant primary Relay when our patrol stumbled upon them. Arterius ordered to fire, and when aliens retreated without answering, he ordered to pursue."

"That goes against all First Contact protocols that ever existed!"

"We have no choice but to receive this ambassador, and do our best to mitigate the damages," thesalarian councillor pointed out. "Offer this Systems Alliance to join the Council races as independent power, with prospects of joining the Council in the future."

"I concur," Tevos agreed, and contacted Matriarch Lidanya. "Matriarch, please provide a safe corridor for Ambassador Goyle. And tell her that she can take no more than five people with her. Their shuttle is permitted to dock at the Council Tower."

"Understood. ETA is five minutes."

Normally, Councillor Tevos would use that time to review data, but there was no data to review in this issue. Only that the aliens clearly had technology above anything the rest of the galaxy could dream of, and that they were likely angered by an unprovoked attack from the turians.

In the meantime, C-Sec formed a protective perimeter, took tactical positions and cleared unauthorized civilians from the Council Chamber. Only reporters from Citadel News Network and some higher-ups from salarian, asari, and turian government were allowed to be present. Finally, alien ambassadors arrived, and Tevos had to restrain herself from gaping. They looked remarkably asari-like, well, at least the lone alien in civilian clothes was. The rest lacked mammal glands, so they were probably males of the species. The differences between them and asari were very few – aliens had some sort of fur on their heads, their skin was pale-brown instead of blue.

It took her several long moments to register anything but this surprising similarity. There was, as requested, only five people – a female in civilian clothes in front, an armed male in some sort of ancient ceremonial gear half a step behind her, and two steps behind them were two aliens in full-body metallic hardsuits. And they were dragging a bound and gagged turian general between them.

"Greetings, Councillors. I am Anita Goyle, ambassador for the System Alliance. My companion here," she indicated a male in ceremonial gear, "is Harry Potter, Patriarch of the human race."

"Patriarch?" Councillor Vestes asked. "Is it some form of governmental or military rank? Or is it merely a gender variation of an age-bound honorific?"

"Title of Patriarch signifies that person's experience, achievements and abilities cannot be measured by a normal scale," ambassador explained. "Our equivalents of asari term matriarch are called Elders."

"Such cultural exchange is fascinating, but I'm more interesting in other matters right now. Like why you felt the need to drag one of my brethren with you, and in such state."

"General Arterius is the prisoner of war, and he is treated as one. He wasn't harmed," explained Patriarch Potter. "And to be objective, his thoughtless actions cost Turian Hierarchy far more than they cost us. We brought him here and intent to release him in Councillor Lavernus' custody in recognition that we hold no ill will to Turian Hierarchy at large or indeed the Citadel Council."

"Patriarch Potter, if I may?" asked Lavernus. "What would you do if it was up to you to decide his punishment?"

"Personally? I'll treat him as an object lesson for future generations, as a textbook example of greed and criminal stupidity. But I would not object to simply blowing out his brains in a public execution, either."

"Thank you," Lavernus nodded. "Officers, take him away for now."

"If we may return to the purpose of this meeting?" Tevos reminded. "Our first order of business should be establishing the cessation of hostilities between the Systems Alliance and Turian Hierarchy."

"As long as Turian Hierarchy promises to cease further hostilities we'll consider the matter closed. All turian prisoners would be provided safe passage aboard the remains of their patrol fleet within two days from reaching the agreement."

Tevos was sure the shock was just as visible on her colleagues' faces as it was without doubt visible on hers. Humans were in the strong position, and they just waive the whole matter away like it's not worth their time. Like there is nothing they could possibly want from the turians, or the Council.

"Were you expecting demands for reparations?" Ambassador Goyle asked with indignation clear in her voice and stance. "We consider ourselves honest and just people, and as such, we can hardly demand – or even accept – reparations from the side that, just as us, suffered from the actions of one fool. Nor can we demand something from those who played no part in this conflict and were indeed ignorant of the matter."

"System Alliance is very generous," Councillor Lavernus voiced. "On behalf of the Turian Hierarchy and upon my own honour as a turian I promise that there would be no further hostilities between our states, unless provoked by separate matter."

"On behalf of System Alliance, I accept," Ambassador Goyle nodded. "Now, onto the matter of System Alliance integration into galactic community. I cede the floor to Patriarch Potter."

Tevos perked up at that. If Goyle was the ambassador, why did she give Potter the opening speech? Said individual meanwhile stepped forward and raised his arms. Tevos gasped when his entire body started to glow and floated from the ground.

"On behalf of the human race and all affiliated with us, I am honoured to declare that upon entering the galactic community, we bear no ill will to any known sentient race; that we will not take arms against those who does not threaten our citizens or our way of life; that we will respect existing cultures and practices and ask for same respect regarding ours. I would also like to state that should our citizens or our culture come under deliberate attack from any organized group, up to and including a rival state, we will respond to it with overwhelming force, and do our best to eliminate said treat."

He fell silent, but continued to float about a meter above the ground.

"On behalf of Systems Alliance, I verify this claims to be true," Goyle declared loudly. "Does the Citadel Council confirm that they understood this declaration fully and completely?"

"We do," Tevos declared after looking on her colleagues. The glow that encased Potter's whole body started to diminish, and he slowly descended. Both armoured humans moved forward to help him stand – he looked quite exhausted by this experience, whatever it was.

"Does Citadel Council accept our declaration and statement as the base for future negotiations?"

"We do," Tevos confirmed.

"Excellent! Let it be known that we have reached a basic agreement," Goyle exclaimed with a brilliant smile. "We are now prepared to listen to your suggestions, venerable Council."

Tevos exchanged a glance with Vestes, and the salarian councillor begun the negotiation.

"We think it would be for mutual benefit for Systems Alliance to join Citadel Council as an affiliated race. Unfortunately, as of right now, we are unable to offer you a place among the Council itself, though we are sure that such time will come. If you are willing to join Citadel Council, then you will have to meet certain requirements, chief among which would be your agreement to follow the Treaty of Farixen."

"If you would be so kind as to provide us with the texts of this Treaty, as well as any other requirements for joining the Citadel Council, we will be able to give you the answer in several hours."

"Take your time," Tevos offered. "I'm transferring the texts to your omni-tool now."

* * *

Five hours later, the Council reconvened to hear Systems Alliance response to their offer. The speed was slightly surprising and worrying, but Councillor Tevos was hopeful that they would be able to persuade humans to join them. They seemed quite a reasonable race, a lot like the asari. Ambassador Goyle started the meeting.

"We have reviewed your requirements, and have several questions we would like to clarify. First of all, what your texts refer to as Mass Effect technology – do we understand correctly that it is technology obtained from the now extinct galaxy-spanning civilization known as the Proteans that had built Mass Relays? That Mass Effect technology is the technology based on manipulation of mass fields that requires a specific element called Element Zero?"

"You understand correctly," Vestes nodded.

"Just to clear any translations issues," Goyle smiled. "Next topic – your definition of Artificial Intelligence. If you could please clarify that definition?"

"It is a self-aware computer program or a system of programs," Vestes explained. "More common definition is any non-organic sentience."

"Such broad definition goes into direct conflict with our culture and religion," Patriarch Potter intervened. "We can agree with your laws concerning AI research and development only if you agree to the following definition: AI is a self-aware or capable of attaining self-awareness digital program or system of programs that can be fully described by a binary code."

Tevos couldn't see any major issues with this definition, and judging by hesitant glances from her colleagues, neither could they. Sure, it was very specific, which was a bit suspicious, but it described their understanding of AI in full.

"We can agree with this definition," she gave their consent.

"Perfect! Our next issue is the Spectre authority. People of Alliance place very high value to life. Every citizen has a right to carry civilian-grade weapons and protect their lives with any means necessary. Our forensic system has very secure and very accurate way of determining the truth in such matters. As such, we can recognize Spectre authority to the point that we will, when possible, cooperate with their investigations and provide assistance, but any actions of a Spectre that results in death of our citizens on our territory would be investigated by our courts, and should Spectre be found guilty in unnecessary murder, they would be held accountable according to our laws."

"Spectres are instrumental for galactic security, and have been for hundreds of years!"

"My apologies, Councillor Lavernus, but your need to institute them in the first place speaks lowly of organization of your government," Patriarch Potter pointed out. "Systems Alliance does not have a problem with bureaucracy, because it's practically non-existent in our government. Alliance is a functional meritocracy controlled by the public. This matter is non-negotiable."

"Very well," Lavernus conceded after a hushed conversation with Vestes. "We agree to your stipulations on Spectre authority within your territory."

"Last is the issue of mutual technology exchange," announced Ambassador Goyle. "Alliance does not interfere in distribution of information – it's purely up to our people to decide what information to share and what keep to themselves. Systems Alliance will neither force nor prohibit any of its citizens from exchanging technology and scientific knowledge with citizens of Citadel Council apart from classified government-funded research."

"This sounds…reasonable," Vestes agreed after several seconds.

"Then on behalf of Systems Alliance and in agreement with Patriarch Potter, I, Ambassador Anita Goyle, agree with the terms presented by the Citadel Council providing they include stipulations agreed with during this meeting," Goyle declared formally. "I'm sending you a copy of agreements to review."

All three Councillors knew the contents by heart, so it did not take long to verify that they weren't changed apart from the stipulations agreed to during this meeting. Finally, they declared their satisfaction, and the Systems Alliance officially became a state affiliated with the Citadel Council. The galaxy-wide declaration of this, coupled with full recordings of surprisingly quick negotiations and shots of Alliance "diplomatic vessel", induced a lot of praise for the Citadel Council, and a lot of curious goodwill to the new species. It would be weeks before the Council realized just how much they were duped by a cheerful and agreeable ambassador.

* * *

"To the wonderful stupidity of representative democracy!" Harry toasted aboard The _Executor_. "What a bunch of arrogant fools…"

"Yeah," Anita agreed. "This asari, Councillor Tevos, practically oozed superiority."

"Reminds me of late Daphne Greengrass in her school years," Harry agreed, sipped his firewhiskey and giggled – quite undignified. "Wish I could see their faces when they learn that we don't use Mass Effect technology apart from triggering Relay travel, and none of our ships are governed by their oh so important Treaty of Farixen."

"Or that nearly all relevant research fields are government-funded. Or that scientific knowledge barely covers a quarter of our technology."

"I wonder if they ever realize that we had full texts of all their stipulations well before arriving at the Citadel? Or would they think that we are naturally that brilliant? By the way, Anita, let me offer you congratulations on your acting skills. Had I not known better, I would've believed you to be naïve and excitable."

"You weren't so bad either, Harry," young ambassador smiled seductively. "The whole glowing levitation thing was very nice, directed their attention away from the relative topics very nicely."

"I try," Harry smiled, eyeing her long legs. "But I must point out that it was your idea to waive any possible reparations. Scored us a lot of goodwill from Lavernus, and I imagine even more from the public."

"You suggested we use shock and awe tactics in the first place."

"True. Now, if we're done with patting ourselves on our backs, let's go to your cabin, and I demonstrate my…appreciation of your stunning characteristics?"

"Oh, I've heard you are very experienced in that area."

* * *

CODEX: Alliance Navy.

**The Executor** is a one-of-the-kind spaceship sanctioned by the Elder Council with two purposes in mind – intimidation and total war. Modelled and named after a starship from a classical XX century sci-fi movie saga, The Executor reaches 19 kilometres in length and is capable of turning the surface of an Earth-sized planetoid into a melted slug in a matter of hours.

To alleviate costs involved in the running of a starship this size and power, the _Executor_ was built to function as an autonomous mobile factory capable of building anything up to full-sized frigates from processed asteroids and helium-3 extractions from gas-giant's atmospheres. At nominal production speeds, The Executor would recoup itself fully a century after its creation.

* * *

**Interlude – Councillor Tevos**

It was a week since the Citadel witnessed the arrival of new species' ambassadors, and five days since the whole story was aired for the whole galaxy to see. Never in her eighty-years long career as a Councillor Tevos enjoyed more popularity and political power. And while her colleagues were enjoying the similar rise in popularity, they weren't as smart and experienced as Tevos. She knew that such popularity would not last long – and she put it to use immediately, asking for favours and pushing through deals and decisions she couldn't before. She did what was good for the asari people, but mainly – she finally dealt with her more vicious opponents, like that Matriarch Aethyta with her stupid isolationism and militaristic ideas.

When remains of General Arterius' patrol fleet returned to Turian space and submitted their reports, tensions rose. If half a hundred human ships – frigates, no less! – could inflict such damages on the turian patrol fleet, if human tech was so superior to Citadel's...then the Council just may be screwed, successful negotiations or not. It was imperative to obtain confirmation as soon as possible.

So Tevos used remains of her brief popularity to push forth an idea to hold follow-up negotiations with System Alliance on their territory, and then managed to appoint herself to the diplomatic team. Of course, out of fifty people on the team, only five, including Tevos herself, could be called diplomats. Others were military specialists, scientists, intelligence officers and a full STG cell. They would learn all there is to learn about humans, and since Tevos would be with that team, she will escape the fallout if their worst fears about the new race turn out to be true.

* * *

**A/N:** Please give a round of applause to **_Kira Kyuu, _**my awesome beta.

I know it's a long shot, but... anyone willing to recommend/supply a cover art for this story?


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** this is a work of fiction. No profits are being made. All recognizable characters or situations belong to their respective owners.

**A/N**: Hello again, dear readers! A warning - this is another fast-paced timeline chapter, though this time I included some proper narration as some of you requested in your reviews. Enjoy!

The chapter have been beta'ed by **_Kira Kyuu_** and uploaded on May 30th.

**Chapter 6. The Systems Alliance**

In his twenty nine years Nairo Raanjit seen and heard a lot of pretty strange stuff. Being an STG agent tends to do that. But always – always! – there was some sort of rational explanation for any weird thing he encountered. And even if he couldn't find it immediately it just meant that he had to look better.

Then the humans came. He, along with the rest of his cell, was dispatched to gather data. Everything seemed fine at first: they weren't fired upon, and quickly obtained the permission to land on the planet. It was a little strange to see a colony consisting of a single, if well-developed and well-protected city, but it was somewhat understandable: if they had high standards of living and didn't suffer from the overpopulation, the colony needed to provide standards just as high to entice new people to move in. Peculiar, but understandable.

The spaceport was right in the city centre, connected to a military base. They went through the customs very quickly; humans didn't even try to search for any hidden bugs or weapons. After they were declared clear a cheerful female human introduced herself as their guide and offered to lead them to a hotel where they were provided accommodations.

Instead of going outside or into some sort of aircar hangar, their guide led them underground, into a heavily guarded room filled with doors. Three walls were filled with doors – actual ancient wooden doors with red lights above each of them. Every door was connected to a holographic terminal. Their guide typed something into one, and the indicator above the door changed to green. She pulled on the handle, and Nairo saw that the doorway was filled with some sort of green mist that obscured whatever lied behind. Judging by the sound, there was water – a fountain, perhaps?

"Follow me!"

Their cheerful guide stepped through. A small bug Nairo placed on her showed that somehow she moved to the edge of the city. He didn't believe it actually moved twenty kilometres in one step, of course – it was preposterous – but perhaps this doorway was an actual security device that somehow disabled all spying tech? That was clever.

When he stepped through, first thing he saw were all his STG colleagues lying unconscious on the floor. Then he registered that asari and turians of the group looked dazed or shocked. Then he understood that he was standing in the enormous hotel lobby, with fountains and terraces, filled with light and overlooking the landscape beyond the city. In one single step he somehow travelled from underground room in the centre of the city to a fiftieth floor of a building right at its edge. That was impossible, yet it happened. It defined every scientific limit he knew.

His salarian brain, trained to analyze every new data and its possible consequences in seconds, was not prepared for this. For the first time in his twenty nine years Nairo Raanjit fainted.

* * *

_**2157.**_ Humanity enters galactic arena with massive amounts of public goodwill from the other races. Turian and salarian councillors are quietly discharged by their respective governments after it becomes apparent that terms of Alliance's joining with the Council affiliated states provided very little gain to the Council species and failed to check its military powers. Councillor Tevos manages to hold to her position through careful political manoeuvring. Harry Potter holds an open seminar on Shanxi and then drops from contact. Alliance news agencies cite uncontrollable wanderlust as the reason for his disappearance. Geth Collective notices the terms in Alliance Declaration of Intentions and starts to contemplate initiation of contact.

_**2158**_. The human embassy on the Citadel is inaugurated. As the galaxy tries to comprehend the very existence of arcane arts, no newborn humans on Shanxi show any magical ability. Careful study shows that in utero Element Zero contamination prevents the development of any arcane potential and instead leads to development of what the rest of the galaxy calls biotics. The discovery leads to immediate human abandonment of Shanxi.

Dissatisfied with the resolution of the First Contact War, Jack Harper resigns from Alliance Intelligence Service, founds the pro-human organization Cerberus, publishes its manifesto and assumes the identity of the Illusive Man. Manifesto is derided as survivalist at best and downright racist at worst, and quickly forgotten by the media.

Geth Collective can't reach consensus on the Alliance issue and reaches the decision to gather more data before re-examining the issue.

_**2159**_. Despite his brother's reputation, Saren Arterius becomes the youngest turian ever induced into Spectres.

A Quarian named Dely'Newa nar Shellen returns from her pilgrimage in the Alliance space with ancient camping equipment that is able to accommodate ten separate quarian families while taking only three cubic metres of real space.

_**2160**_. First Contact War veteran Zaeed Massani is discharged from Alliance military due to a severe PTSD complication best described as blood-lust. With another discharged soldier named Vido Santiago, Zaeed founds a mercenary group Blue Suns.

Quarian Migrant Fleet initiates First Contact with Systems Alliance. After two weeks of debates, Alliance government offers help to transport quarians to unused dextro-amino garden world thirty-two parsecs away from the nearest Mass Relay. Upon reaching the world and determining its suitability for colonization, quarian Conclave asks to be included into Systems Alliance as a member-state.

_**2162**_. A survey team working for batarian entrepreneur Edan Had'dah discovers a mysterious artefact orbiting an unnamed planet near the Perseus Veil. According to a human consultant, artefact emits arcane fields of unknown kind and purpose.

_**2164**_. Alliance starts the study of pre-prothean arcane artefact on Sidon with Dr. Shu Qian as the project leader. Lt. Kahlee Sanders is assigned as a tech analyst.

_**2165**_. Humanity continues to expand, founding more colonies and establishing trade alliances with many of the other species who recognize the authority of the Citadel Council. Tensions grow between humans and batarians as they compete for territory in the Skyllian Verge.

After an Alliance research station at Sidon is attacked, David Anderson searches for those responsible alongside Kahlee Sanders, and discovers an Alliance scientist, Dr. Shu Qian, was conducting illegal AI research to unlock the secrets behind a mysterious artefact discovered near the Perseus Veil. Eventually, Anderson is assigned to work with Saren Arterius to track down Dr. Qian and his batarian supporter, Edan Had'dah. However, Saren instead kills both Dr. Qian and Had'dah, blames Anderson for the mission's failure, and uses Dr. Qian's research to search for the artefact himself. After interviewing Anderson, Alliance officials declare Saren a criminal and issue kill-on-sight orders despite vocal protests from the Citadel Council. Relationships between with the Council sour.

After a disagreement between Vido Santiago and Zaeed Massani over hiring batarians into the Blue Suns, Vido betrays Zaeed and leaves him for dead. All records of Zaeed's involvement in the Blue Suns are erased.

_**2170**_. The new privately founded human colony of Mindoir is attacked by batarian slavers. Many colonists are killed or captured. Alliance launches an anti-slavery campaign in retaliation, which is largely ineffective. Mindoir is treated as an example of poor safety management.

A question "where are the quarians?" is posted on the extranet and creates a sizable discussion. The answer "somewhere in the Alliance territory" satisfies everyone, and the galaxy happily forgets about the quarians again.

_**2171**_. In compliance with Batarian Hegemony demands, Citadel Council imposes heavy taxation against further human expansion in the Skyllian Verge. Alliance complies and silently redoubles their efforts for finding and terraforming planets outside of Relay network.

_**2175**_. Testing of a new Alliance hyperdrive enters its final stage. New hyperdrive promises to alleviate Alliance's dependence on Mass Relays for long-range travel.

* * *

The First Contact War, however brief, reminded Alliance Command about two important facts: other races do not value each and every life as highly, allowing them to find quality in simple quantity. In space, technologically superior Alliance fleet was overcome with coordinated fire and swarms of fighters and frigates. On the ground sheer numbers weren't as effective, especially during siege, but they still forced Alliance forces to retreat.

Mindoir showed Alliance that they won't be protected by reputation alone.

Alliance took it into account. Every ship in the Alliance navy has been retrofitted with at least two automated medium-range plasma turrets to counter fighter swarms. Every independently funded colony was forced to meet certain standards in safety and emergency procedures.

Elysium was the largest human colony in the Skyllian Verge – with four cities and about a dozen smaller towns it had fourth biggest human population in Alliance Space after Earth, Mars and Terra Nova. Total population counted well over 40 million, with about half of them aliens. Being a hub for travel and interstellar commence, Elysium was a very wealthy world, on par with Earth and Mars themselves.

As a result, Elysium was very well protected in comparison with other human colonies, boasting a home defence fleet of a hundred warships – three times the amount a regular human colony had, such force would give pause to even a full turian fleet. In addition to that, Alliance had twenty thousand soldiers stationed on the planet backed by half a thousand rapid-response elite units to counter any threat that manages to land forces on the surface, however unlikely such outcome was.

Many people thought that such formidable defences were overkill and a waste of money. They were proven wrong very soundly when nearly three thousand ships poured through the Relay. Half of them immediately engaged the home defence fleet, forgoing mass accelerators entirely and immediately moving into a knife-range, using disruptor torpedoes and GARDIAN arrays to overwhelm already massively outnumbered human fleet. The rest headed straight to the planet.

With no warning and barely any time to proceed with evacuations, the colony was not prepared to repel the attack. City inhabitants were moderately safe – AA cannons placed on every roof, as was customary for all Alliance colonies, were enough to dissuade any pirates from attempting to land directly in the cities, and city garrisons would buy civilians enough time to evacuate into secure bunkers.

For twenty three smaller towns the situation wasn't so good. While each of them also had AA emplacements, their defence grids couldn't compare with the cities', meaning that pirates were ready to risk it and land right in the streets.

When emergency alarms came to life along the whole colony, a recent N7 graduate Lieutenant John Shepard was enjoying his leave with a second tumbler of firewhiskey at the Dionysus, biggest establishment in the Lefkada, the best and most popular tourist town on the planet, if not the whole Skyllian Verge. Night was already falling down in this region, and the Dionysus was slowly becoming alive.

Upon hearing the alarms Shepard immediately apparated back to his hotel to retrieve his Alliance issued sidearm, and then proceeded to the nearest police station to offer his services for defending the colony.

"N7 battlemage, huh? Well, that probably makes you the best fighter in the whole damn town, son. Come on, Commander Grobysh will brief you with the rest of volunteers in a minute," said a grizzled old sergeant when Shepard reported in to the local garrison. He led Shepard into gym. There were about a hundred volunteers in total – mostly humans, though there were some turians and even a couple of asari. Soon a short and relatively young man in Alliance armour walked in and went straight to business.

"Alright, folks, I'm Commander Grobysh of the Lefkada garrison. Here is the situation: ten minutes ago three thousand mismatched ships jumped through relay and attacked. That's from two hundred thousand to half a million slaver scum gunning for our civilians. So it's ten thousand minimum gunning for Lefkada. Lefkada has a hundred thousand local population, plus half a million tourists. There is only five primary and three secondary emergency evacuation points. It takes two hours to complete the evacuation in normal situation. We have fifteen more minutes before those bastards are upon us. Not counting you volunteers, we have two hundred marines plus five Iron Men to defend this city."

Shepard glanced around and saw grim faces. It was a dire situation all around, and it was inevitable that there would be losses. It was their job to make those losses as minimal as possible – and he saw determination to do just that. But Grobysh wasn't finished yet.

"Thankfully, there is no shortage of equipment for us. There is enough in our armoury to equip every last one of you, including aliens. There are fifty more shield-rifle sets at every evacuation point. Now follow Sergeant and get equipped, except for officers."

Shepard stayed along with two turians, one asari and five humans of various age. He was obviously the youngest here, and that attracted Commander's attention.

"Your rank and specialty, son?"

"Lieutenant Shepard, N7 battlemage, sir!"

"N7, huh? That's good. Any more mages? No? Now, listen here, everyone! Each of you will take ten men team under your command. My people would take the fight to the bastards and deal with evacuations; your job would be to defend evacuation points. If there are volunteers among civilians, arm them and use them. Clear? Now go get equipped. Shepard, stay for a moment. Can you make portkeys based on coordinates?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good, then you will lead a quick-response team. My people would relay coordinates to you, you portkey with your team, provide assistance, portkey back. Now go get your equipment."

Ten minutes later Shepard and his five-man team were deployed for their first site. Seven marines were pinned down in the entertainment district by a large group of batarian pirates. What was worse, there were about half a hundred civilians with them. Portkey dropped them half a block from the fight. Shepard gave his team a second to regain their orientation, and then motioned for them to move forward.

The situation didn't look good. Marines and civilians were trapped in some kind of a store, and there were around forty batarians shooting at them. Marines returned fire as best as they could, but with such odds and little cover they weren't very effective. Batarians were advancing, using some kind of riot shields to at least partially protect themselves from blaster fire. It seemed to be working, if not very effectively.

"Alright, team. If those bastards get in, our people are screwed. So we flank them and put them down hard. Element of surprise will allow us to take out at least ten of them. To take out the rest, we need to confuse and demoralize them. Rifles on full automatic, once they realize they are under attack, we charge, shout, and fire at everything that has more than two eyes. If you manage to enter melee range, use your lightsabers."

"That's a dumb plan," grumbled a forty-something former soldier. He was certainly a big guy, muscled and blond, but evidently not very smart.

"If you want to live long enough to see the morning, you will shut your trap and do as I say, Carver," Shepard hissed. "What do you think they teach you at N7 school? How to shoot? There is a lot of ways to do this, but very few to do it better."

"I'm not pulling your ass out of fire when this thing blows in your face."

"You won't need to. Just do your part."

They crept up on batarians, using building's shadows to stay hidden, then on Shepard's signal they fired a first volley, instantly taking down four-eyed bastards. Their second volley took another six, and then they charged, shooting indiscriminately and screaming at the top of their lungs. All that ruckus worked lovely in combination with a wide-area Confundus charm Shepard discreetly cast before beginning their offence. The batarians panicked – some tried to run, some dropped to the ground, others wasted their shots without really aiming them anywhere. Caught in crossfire between Shepard's team and formerly trapped marines, batarians were quickly slaughtered.

Shepard's next assignment was pretty much similar: they deployed half a block from the firefight, flanked the slavers, caught them in crossfire and didn't lose even one man. Then Commander Grobysh ordered Shepard's team to relieve the pressure from one of evacuation points.

Emergency evacuation points were akin to XX century airports – large buildings that processed thousands of people a minute before sending them on their way to an unplottable and heavily warded bunker. People could use DoorNet, apparation, portkeys and any form of public transport to reach the evacuation point. Unfortunately, there was no magical way to prevent enemies from doing the same – and that meant that the access points needed to be guarded. Civilian volunteers were enough to guard and help process anyone using the DoorNet, portkey and apparation points – but the actual physical entrance was guarded by Alliance marines. And the slavers were determined to get in.

The portkey deposited Shepard's team on a roof with clear view of a square before the evacuation point. Facility itself was fully underground, but there were four large tunnels leading to it from the surface. And the square was packed with slaver scum. Attackers already managed to take out local automated defences and now were preparing to storm the tunnels.

"Damn, there are a lot of those bastards," Carver commented. "We won't be able to make a dent without reinforcements."

"We'll need to take out those gunships first," Shepard pointed, ignoring Carver completely. For all his strength and substantial prowess in battle, Carver was a pessimistic loudmouth without a nick of tactical sense. "They are old turian models. A high-powered blaster shot will penetrate the cockpit cover and have enough power to kill a pilot, and the points where thrusters connect with the wings are structurally weak. You're up for it, Brooks?"

"I can take down one, maybe two before the rest figure out my position," Brooks was in her fifties already, but still just as good of a shot as she was during the Occupation of Shanxi. Just like virtually every sniper Shepard knew she wasn't much of a conversationalist, always cutting straight to the point and using minimum of words. "I count five."

"Two I can handle myself, and the rest of the team will take care of the last," Shepard assured her. "Hold your fire for now. I have to prepare something first."

"We take those gunships down, and then what?"

"Then, my dear Carver, you will see just why every certified battlemage in the Alliance is given a full psychological evaluation every year. Now, shut up and clear the way," Shepard replied, searching for an appropriate scheme in his omni-tool. After founding it, he used a weak spell to cut open his left-hand forefinger and started to draw a runic array with his own blood.

"What the hell are you doing, man!?"

"My job, now shut the hell up, Carver!" Shepard worked quickly, using long, confident strokes and checking with a scheme only briefly. Thinking about it, he decided to explain his actions somewhat. "Only ridiculously powerful mage can take on this kind of crowd without resorting to some sort of summoning. I'm not ridiculously powerful, so I'll have to summon something, be it water or flame or electricity – it will be self-sustaining and at least partially self-aware. Which means it is very, very dangerous. And I'm not attempting something like that without having a way to control it. This circle will help me with that."

"Have you done something like this before?" asked Carver. "And don't you need a special permission for this kind of thing?"

"I'm certified to do this, and yes, it's likely I will be court-martialled," Shepard finished his drawing and healed his finger. He stepped inside of an array and felt it flaring to life, sharpening his mind and will, allowing him to concentrate better. It wasn't a ritual circle in the full meaning of the word, it did not draw magic from the outside and used it to permanently change something – it just configured already present magic into a desired effect. Technically, everything could be done by simple spells – but spells required concentration to maintain, and runic array didn't. Shepard took a deep breath, adjusting to the feeling and drew out his wand. This work was too damn power-hungry to use his implant – he needed a better conductor. Every mage in the Alliance still carried a wand for emergency purposes – be it power-conductive requirement, delicate work or high accuracy shots. "I don't care. Now, pick your targets, team. Brooks, fire at will."

Brooks nodded and took a lying position on the edge of the roof. She already fiddled with her rifle, sacrificing the shooting rate for sheer power of the shots. It wasn't strictly regulation procedure since it drastically reduced weapon's lifespan, but every good sniper knew how to turn his or her weapon from twenty shots per minute anti-personnel rifle into four shots per minute anti-material one.

Her first shot pierced right through the cockpit of the farthest gunship and drilled a nice fist-sized smoking hole through its pilot. Shepard let loose with highly accurate piercing curse that brought quite similar results. Unfortunately, both the plasma bolt and the curse were highly visible. The slavers quickly figured from where they were fired. Three remaining gunships moved to deal with the snipers. The rest of the Shepard's team started to fire at the closest gunship, aiming at the cockpit or thrusters, while Shepard aimed another high-powered piercing curse. He let loose just as the closest gunship opened fire on their position and was glad to see that his aim was true. Hearing the pained cry from one of his teammates, Shepard quickly brought up a shield to weather the onslaught of gunship's fire. Seconds later he was already feeling the drain, but Carver finally managed to hit a weak spot above the left port thruster, gunship veered to the right and started to fall. Brooks let loose her second shot and brought down the last one.

"Good job, team. Injures?"

"Jerry was hit, sir," O'Vestry, their sort-of medic reported grimly. "Medigel won't pull it. He needs a healer."

"Use our return portkey," Shepard offered. "All of you, in fact. I don't really need company for something like this, and I'm not sure I'll be up for anything else for a while."

He watched them go, then turned to a slaver crowd far below and raised his wand.

"AZ-RETH!"

All his attention turned in to controlling the raging wild flames. Fiendfyre was the only thing he could see, hear, smell or feel – it and the slaver's life it extinguished with ease. For two minutes he allowed the fire to burn, carefully steering it from the tunnels or the buildings. Then came the hard part. The flames didn't want to be extinguished. They didn't want to end. Pure entropy given form and allowed into the world – it wanted to expand and continue until there was nothing else left. Shepard resisted and willed it to end, fighting through the pain both mental and physical. Fiendfyre resisted the best it could, but Shepard wasn't some ordinary wizard – he was N7 battlemage, one of the best: stronger, more disciplined, more capable. He was trained to do this. So he did. Slowly, inch by agonizing inch, he beat the flames into submission and forced them to die, leaving behind only pools of molten stone. Once done, he finally allowed himself to lose consciousness.

* * *

_**2176**_. Pirate coalition funded by emboldened Batarian Hegemony launch an unprecedented surprise attack, later known as Skyllian Blitz, on Alliance colony Elysium. Acting in concert with the swiftly organized militia, Alliance military personnel manages to evacuate 90% of civilian population into emergency bunkers before they could be captured by the slavers, and eventually manages to drive the attackers off the colony. Alliance quick response fleet intercepts retreating pirates, but does not manage to stop all slavers from retreating through the Mass Relay.

Batarian prisoners captured during the Blitz admit during interrogation that the attack was funded by the Hegemony. Alliance issues a demand for all captured humans to be released into Alliance custody. When it becomes clear that the Batarian Hegemony had no intentions of complying with this demand, Systems Alliance launch a full-scale invasion into batarian territory. After quick destruction of Hegemony's fleets by means of superior numbers and technology, Hegemony leadership claims that Alliance would not dare to do more in fear of upsetting the Citadel Council. Alliance demonstrates its resolve by taking the _Executor_ directly to Khar'shan and turning a major city into a molten slag within fifteen seconds of bombardment. After retrieving the human prisoners, Alliance Fleets return back into Alliance space.

_**2177**_. As the devastated Batarian Hegemony is torn apart by uprisings and dissolves into Terminus Space, System Alliance manages to retain its embassy in the Citadel after pointing out that it acted in full accordance with the Declaration of Intentions witnessed and accepted by the Citadel Council.

A unit of Alliance marines is wiped out by thresher maws on Akuze.

_**2178**_. Takeovers on the several former batarian colonies end with abolitionists in power and total ban on slavery operations. Several of those colonies, including the colony of Anhur request to join the Alliance.

_**2180**_. Quarian population on the colony Narhel Raya reaches nineteen million. After nearly complete cannibalization of their Flotilla during the settlement on Narhel Raya, the first completely new quarian ship is launched. With initial colonization efforts complete, it is decided to restore the traditional pilgrimages for the young quarians. Most elect to spend their pilgrimages in the service to the Alliance.

Hyperdrive 2.0 is put in production. With it, a ship can traverse up to one tenth of a Milky Way in one hour-long jump. While utilizing primary Relays for long-distance travel is a still most expedient and energy-efficient way of long-distance travel, Alliance now can do without them. Back in the Sol System, deconstruction of Charon relay is started to add security for Alliance home system.

**_2183_**. In an effort to further interspecies relations, Hierarchy and Alliance collaborate on an engineering project co-sponsored by the Citadel Council: an experimental frigate with a prototype stealth system, the SSV _Normandy_. Captain David Anderson is given command of the ship, and Commander John Shepard is assigned as executive officer.

Just a week prior to Normandy's launch date, Jeff "Joker" Moreau is assigned as the pilot of the SSV _Normandy_.

* * *

**A/N**: and we're finally moved to the ME timeline. Proper narration and a lot of dialogues from now on!

My gratitude for your continuing support of this story. See you all next week!


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** this is a work of fiction. No profits are being made. All recognizable characters or situations belong to their respective owners.

**A/N**: actually, there isn't one this time))) R&R everyone!

The chapter have been beta'ed by **_Kira Kyuu_** and uploaded on May 30th.

**Chapter 7. Shakedown run**

"Arcturus Prime relay is in range. Initiating transmission sequence," the pilot's voice was the epitome of professionalism, contrary to his nickname. An elderly navigator moved aside with a smile, no doubt guessing just why ship's XO was hurrying into cockpit. "We are connected. Calculating transit mass and destination. The relay is hot, acquiring approach vector. All stations secure for transit. The board is green. Approach run has begun."

The sight was magnificent. Even if Alliance largely scorned Mass Effect technologies, Mass Relays were admired – both as technological marvels and aesthetic objects. Nothing beat the sight of massive spinning rings eclipsing a glowing core, and long elegant arms of an approaching Relay. The size alone was breathtaking – only four engineered objects in the galaxy beat the sheer size of these things: the Citadel, Arcturus Station, Omega, and the _Executor_.

"Hitting the relay in 3…2…1…" there was the slightest of shudders, and a half-a-galaxy journey was over. "Thrusters…check. Navigation…check. Internal emission protocols engaged. All systems online. Drift…just under fifteen hundred K."

"1500 is good. Your captain will be pleased."

Upon hearing the voice with an odd metallic undertones _Normandy_'s XO carefully schooled his expression – a little belatedly, as the owner already left.

"I hate this guy."

Shepard found himself agreeing with Joker in this particular instance. For some reason, the turian continued to appear everywhere Shepard went. Like he was stalking him.

"Nihlus gave you a compliment…so you hate him?" drily questioned Staff Lieutenant Alenko, a technomage and occasional second pilot – not that Joker needed one, from what Shepard heard about the pilot.

"You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom? That's good. I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of pinhead. So that's incredible! Besides, Spectres…"

"Are trouble," a voice behind the Commander finished along with Joker. Shepard whirled to face the owner and discovered a young human male wearing something that was definitely not an Alliance uniform. Shepard tensed, preparing to incapacitate the stranger if necessary.

"I do not remember anyone like you on the crew roster**_._**" Of course, the man probably was just a last-second addition or some REMF that decided to personally oversee the shakedown run in the very last moment, but Shepard felt uneasy. If the man was some sort of fanatic or a psycho…

"Relax, Commander," the man smiled. "Right now I'm just a rear echelon mother fucker amusing myself by overseeing _Normandy's_ shakedown run."

Did the man just read his thoughts so casually?

"No, I did not read your thoughts, Commander. Your expression and body language are remarkably easy to read, and I have a lot of experience," the stranger looked past Shepard and nodded to Joker. "You should listen to your pilot. His slight paranoia is very refreshing."

"Hey!"

Joker did not have a chance to express his outrage properly.

"Joker! Status report."

"Just cleared the mass relay, Captain. Stealth systems engaged. Everything looks solid."

"Good. Find a comm buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to Alliance brass before we reach Eden Prime."

"Aye,aye, Captain. Are you aware that we have another guest? I mean, besides the creepy Spectre who's probably heading your way."

"He is already here, Lieutenant. What other guest? It better not be one of your jokes."

"Some guy from the brass, I guess. Don't know his name. Looks human for me. Commander Shepard has him in check."

"Tell Commander to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing, and to bring our guest," Captain did not sound amused when he cut off.

"You heard that, Commander?"

"I'm on my way. Sir, come with me, please."

"Certainly," self-identified REMF agreed cheerfully. "Show the way, Commander."

Captain Anderson wasn't in the comm room when Shepard reached it, but turian Spectre, Nihlus, was.

"Commander Shepard. I was hoping you'd get here first. It will give us the chance to talk."

For some reason, turian completely ignored the other human in the room, and even Shepard found it hard to keep track of the man. He sort of disappeared, became a background. So he focused on the turian.

"What about?"

"I'm interested in this world we're going to, Eden Prime. I heard it's quite beautiful."

Where was the turian going with this?

"I'm a marine, not a tourist."

"It's more than just the tourist destination, isn't it, Shepard? It's a symbol of your people: a perfect little world right at the edges of your territory. Proof that humanity can not only establish colonies, but also protect them."

"Is there a reason for this talk?"

"Humanity proved that it understands just how dangerous the galaxy could be, that you are prepared to face those dangers. But you are still newcomers, Shepard. Is Alliance ready for more?"

To Shepard's relief, Captain Anderson chose this moment to come in.

"Where is the guest Joker was talking about, Commander?"

"Right here," Anderson quickly turned to regard the man. Shepard was secretly pleased to see Nihlus nearly jumping in the air in surprise. Meanwhile, the stranger was regarding Anderson with thoughtful expression. "You look like shit, David."

"Harry?"

"Who else?"

"Indeed," Anderson seemed to relax and even smile. "Well, it's been some years since we last met, if you didn't notice."

"You look like you're in your seventies, not barely over fifty. In other words, exactly like shit."

"Feel like that, too. Harry, allow me to introduce our turian guest. Spectre Nihlus Kryik. You already met the Commander."

"Always a pleasure to speak with a Spectre."

"Nihlus, Commander…meet the Harry Potter."

Shepard did a double take, and he heard Nihlus sucking in air with a hiss. This was the legendary immortal that pretty much single-handedly changed the course of the human history?

"Really, Anderson?" Potter rolled his eyes. "Was it so necessary to be so dramatic?"

"You tell me, I wasn't the one to sneak aboard a prototype frigate on its shakedown run."

"Everybody on this ship suspects that it's much more than a simple shakedown run. How about you tell us what's really going on, Captain?"

"I was about to," Anderson nodded and turned to Shepard. "Commander, we have a covert pick-up to make on Eden Prime."

"Why the secrecy?"

"What part of covert pick-up you didn't understand, boy?" Potter snorted.

"Need to know basis," Anderson explained, not paying Potter any mind. "The explorers found something. A working beacon. It's prothean. Alliance wants it secure."

"This is bigger than the Alliance," Nihlus added. "Prothean tech is the reason for the current state of the galaxy. Citadel, Mass Relays, our ship drives…it's all based on prothean technology."

"We're not as dependent on the prothean tech as the rest of the galaxy, but we'll still like to have a look. We'll be dropping the beacon off on the Citadel as a goodwill gesture. And it's more than that still."

"The beacon is not the only reason I'm here, Shepard," Nihlus seemed to finally found his composure. "I'm here to evaluate you."

Evaluate him? Why the hell would be a Council Spectre evaluating him? Anderson seemed to pick up at his confusion.

"The Alliance has been pushing for this for a long time, Shepard. Humanity wants a larger role in shaping interstellar policy, we want more say with the Citadel Council. The Spectres represent the Council's power and authority. If they accept a human in their ranks…"

"You were instrumental during the Blitz. You showed courage, skill, and amazing leadership capabilities," Nihlus praised. "That's why I put your name forward as a candidate for the Spectres."

"Why put a human as a candidate?"

"When you emerged, you upset a careful power balance that's been preserved for a millennia, and a lot of species are upset about it. I do not think that it's necessary a bad thing," Nihlus shrugged. "What's more, you humans are effective. Perhaps getting you firmly on our side will help us deal with some problems that have been unresolved so far. You have a lot to offer to the galaxy…and to the Spectres. We are an elite group, Shepard. I don't care for your species as long as you can do the job."

Shepard wasn't sure he liked it.

"It seems like a big change now, but it's just the way of life, Shepard," Harry Potter said to him. "Just roll with it."

Shepard nodded and turned to Nihlus.

"What do you need me to do?"

"I need to see your skills for myself, Commander. Eden Prime would be a first of several missions together."

"You'll be in charge of the ground team," Anderson clarified. "Secure the beacon and get it to the ship ASAP. Nihlus would accompany you to observe the mission."

"I'm ready," Shepard nodded more to assure himself than the Captain.

"We should be getting close to Eden…"

"Captain! We've got a problem."

Shepard didn't like it that Joker sounded so serious.

"What's wrong, Joker?"

"Transmission from Eden Prime, sir. You better see this!"

"Bring it up on screen."

All four people in the room turned to watch. It was bad – worse than bad. A lot of blaster discharges and something that was unmistakably weapons fire, but resembled neither blasters nor mass accelerators. Screams and explosions, people running to and from, a shot of Alliance marine shooting at something invisible. Then came the transmission.

"We're under attack! Taking heavy casualties. I repeat: heavy casualties! We can't…argh!...acuate! Repeat: can't evac… They came out of nowhere. We need-"

The voice was cut down, overtaken by some sort of unnatural sound, loud and, frankly, terrifying. The view skewed and tumbled, finally getting up and showing something enormous descending through the atmosphere. Like a hand of enraged god, encased in red lightning. The camera tumbled, and the feed cut out.

"Everything cuts our after that," Joker explained. "No comm traffic at all. Just goes dead. There's nothing."

"Reverse and hold on 38.5," Anderson ordered grimly, and the feed returned to show the same enormous shape descending from space. "Status report."

"Seventeen minutes out, Captain. No other Alliance ship in the area."

Eden Prime was a well-protected world, with defence fleet of fifty. What could take them all out so quickly?

"Take us in, Joker, fast and quiet. This mission just got a lot more complicated."

"The small strike team can move quickly, without drawing attention," Nihlus pointed out. "It's our best chance to secure the beacon."

"The beacon? We just saw our whole colony getting slaughtered!"

"Control yourself, Commander," Potter's voice rang sharp and clear. "Yes, people's lives are first priority for every man in the military, but if there is something out there that is able to overwhelm our defences that easily AND somehow prevent our evacuation procedures at the same time, OUR first priority is to determine who's responsible. And, since they think this beacon is so important as to attack an Alliance colony, we must do everything possible to prevent them from claiming it."

"Harry's right, Commander. Shepard, tell your team to suit up and meet me in the cargo bay. Harry, a word."

Nihlus was already moving, and Shepard did not dally either. He caught Jenkins in the CIC and told him to suit up, then headed down himself. Alenko was already there and ready – after all, he was with Joker when transmission came. Shepard went to the lockers to pick up his weapons – his blaster rifle, sidearm and a lightsaber. He was picking up grenades when someone tapped his shoulder. Turning, he was surprised to see the _Normandy's_ second engineer and the only quarian on board. Members of Alliance or not, normally one wouldn't be put on a prototype warship, but this particular one was supposed to be one of the best in all of Alliance.

"Tali'Zorah, right? I didn't have a chance to meet engineering crew yet, apart from Adams."

"Tali is quite fine. Uh…I guess I just say it. Requesting permission to join the ground team for this mission, Commander."

"What? You're an engineer."

"A combat engineer, Commander. I have full marine qualifications."

"Even so, you're still an engineer. It's not your duty to fight."

"But I'm willing, and you may need some serious hacking down there. That's practically my job description."

"Sorry, Tali, but not today. I'll keep your offer in mind if you want, but right now I just can't afford to take it. No offence."

"None taken," she nodded and went back to the engineering. "You know where to find me if I'm needed."

He was going through the checks a second time when Anderson and Potter came down. Potter was wearing some sort of dragon-hide armour that looked positively ancient compared to the modern composite ones.

"Nihlus, you're coming with us?" Jenkins questioned.

Shepard turned to see the Spectre in his menacing black and red armour checking his shotgun.

"I work better on my own."

"Nihlus would scout out ahead and feed you intelligence," Captain explained. "It's your show now, Commander, but remember: beacon is your first priority."

"Understood," Shepard nodded tensely. "What about the Patriarch? Is he coming with us?"

"I'll take care of survivors and gather long-term intelligence," Potter explained. "Concentrate on getting to that beacon, Commander."

"Approaching drop point one," Joker announced over intercom. Normandy's cargo bay slid open, and Nihlus took a running jump. Potter nodded to Anderson and took to the skies, flying away like it was the easiest thing in the world.

"Damn that's impressive," Alenko muttered.

"That's nothing to the Harry Potter!"

"Leave hero-worship for after the mission, Jenkins! Concentrate on the task!" Shepard reprimanded.

"Sir, yes sir."

"Approaching drop point two."

"Good luck, Commander."

Having the advantage of flight, Harry decided to check on the nearest settlement first. From the bird's view he saw a lot of fighting in the streets, but it seemed that DoorNet was working fine, and local militia would be able to cover the general evacuation. Spotting a team of marines being overwhelmed by superior numbers, Harry flew over and provided assistance with some well-used blasting curses.

"Sergeant! I've heard over emergency transmission that there were some problems with evacuation."

"Emergency portkeys aren't working, sir. After first few injured got splattered all over the colony, we switched them to manual. DoorNet is working fine. Don't know about apparation."

"I see. What do we know about the enemy?"

"Some sort of robots. Geth, maybe."

"I see. Thanks for the info, and keep up a good work."

"Will do, sir."

Having obtained the most crucial information, Harry flew back to the dig site and commed Shepard to warn him about portkeys and apparation. If the attackers were really some synthetics, then it would be a good idea to capture one, so that Alliance could get a look at them. Flying over the dig site, he was easily able to spot two pretty isolated ones. Freezing both with a full body-bind, Harry landed and moved to examine his trophies. A flashlight head and general resemblance to the quarians confirmed sergeant's suspicions – they were definitely geth platforms. As soon as Harry entered their field of vision, both geth emitted a high-pitched cry and went limp.

"Self-destruct sequence. Clever. But I'm better."

Quickly finding another small group of geth platforms, Harry took care of the excesses and got creative. One he simply transfigured in a newt in accordance with tradition, another he placed in deep stasis, a variation of a charm every budding potioneer knew like the back of their hand, and third he just dropped into a pocket dimension, figuring that it won't self-destruct without registering a threat first. Having finished with that, he dropped the first two into one of his bottomless bags and stopped to think on the next course of action. Investigate a fucking huge enemy dreadnaught, or do something less crazily dangerous? He was spared a decision when said dreadnaught took off with a sound that nearly caused Harry to relive his breakfast backwards. Then he got called by Shepard.

"Patriarch, are you here? We could use your help."

"What happened?"

"We found Nihlus. He's dead, shot from the back. Witness claims another turian killed him, named Saren. Nihlus seemed to know him enough to relax in his presence."

"Arterius," Harry hissed.

"I figured as much. He's gone to a small spaceport near the dig site. The beacon was already moved there earlier today. We're hot on his tail, but he'll probably get to the beacon first."

"I'll stop him," Harry promised, already flying towards the spaceport.

"Patriarch, you said it yourself – beacon is our first priority. Secure it. Leave Saren to us."

"Damn it, kid. All right, I suppose it's your show."

There were a lot of geth platforms in the spaceport, and it took Harry some time to locate the beacon, as he didn't have a clue about what it looked like. Finally, he found something that was decidedly non-Alliance and non-geth in origin – a tall elegant stone monument arching up, to the skies. Some huge geth platform was working on it, and suddenly the monument flared in a greenish glow.

Harry hesitated, thinking on what to do next. Landing next to the monument and simply eliminating any hostile that attempted to reach it was a tempting thought, but there was quite a lot of geth in area. He wasn't sure that he'll be able to keep track of them all. He was immortal, not invulnerable or omnipotent, and without mobility offered by flight he would be vulnerable to superior numbers. Simply portkeying the beacon was out, and he wouldn't be able to levitate it and fight effectively on the same time.

Reaching a decision, Harry raised the Elder Wand and started to create simple metal walls around the beacon. If no one could physically reach it, than it was safe, right?

Geth finally managed to detect him and opened fire with remarkable accuracy. Their weapons were quite effective in draining his shields, and Harry couldn't really defend himself – he was good at transfiguration, but simultaneous creation of meter-thick walls around an object was taking all of his concentration. His shields snapped just as he was closing the walls into a roof.

Still having a high pain tolerance from his youth, Harry was barely able to catch himself from splattering on the ground. His trusty dragon-hide battle armour was in shreds, he was quickly losing blood from multiple shots, and it seemed like both of his lungs were pierced. Geth platforms were without a doubt already converging on his position. There was little he could do, and even less time to do it. For the first time Harry regretted sticking with his old armour and not buying a newer model, with some build-in medigel dispensers. Battling black spots quickly encroaching in his vision, Harry reached into his potions bandoleer and summoned one he was carrying in memory of Alastor Moody and his brand of paranoia. He downed it and hoped that Shepard would be smart enough to bring him back to the Normandy.

"Patriarch is not responding, and I don't see anything resembling a beacon," Shepard informed his team. There was no sign of Saren, and the geth also retreated.

"What about this thing?" Alenko pointed at the strange metal cone standing on the small loading platform.

"It's not the beacon," Chief Williams responded almost immediately.

"I'm not saying it is, but it doesn't seem natural," Alenko countered and approached. "Looks like geth tried to get inside but failed and gave it up."

He placed his hands on the thing and jumped back.

"This thing was permanently transfigured! I don't think I would be able to unravel it."

"I asked Patriarch to secure the beacon," Shepard reminded. "Could it be inside?"

"Let's see," Alenko placed both his hands on the cone and concentrated. Slowly, a portion of it turned opaque, then transparent. "Williams?"

"Yeah, it's the beacon!"

"Great," Alenko dropped his hands and doubled over. "Damn, I don't want to imagine amounts of power and concentration needed to create something like this. I was barely able to extend the charm far enough. Thing is a meter thick."

"Normandy, the beacon is secure, but we'll need more than a shuttle to pick it up. And there is no sign of Patriarch Potter. He's not responding to comm calls, either."

"You don't think he's dead or captured, do you, sir?" Williams questioned.

"We must make sure," Shepard said quietly and picked up a part of blown-up geth platform. Transfiguring it into a stick, he placed it on his palm. "Point me, Harry Potter."

The stick waivered and Shepard channelled more power into the spell, forcing himself to remember Patriarch's features. Finally, the stick spun once and pointed in a north-west direction.

"Alenko, go to that point and do the same, so we could triangulate his position, see if he's within the spaceport."

"Right away Commander," Alenko jogged about twenty meters to Shepard's left and repeated the spell. "He's here somewhere, maybe fifty meters from the beacon."

"Let's go find him, then," Shepard said grimly.

Knowing a rough position it wasn't hard. Patriarch's body lay hidden under some crates, and amount of blood was pretty telling. Nonetheless, Alenko dutifully kneeled and checked the pulse.

"He's gone, sir."

"What's this, in his hand? Is it…a vial?" Williams questioned.

"Looks like it," Alenko gently took a vial from the cold fingers and sniffed. "I don't recognize it, but it's not a medical potion."

"Let me see," Shepard took the vial and sniffed it too, then cast a diagnostic charm. "Asphodel and wormwood. If I'm not mistaken, there is only one potion that uses both."

"Draught of the Living Death," Alenko confirmed. "Smart move if he didn't have the time or strength to heal himself properly."

"Still very risky. There is a ten percent chance that you won't awaken in the normal circumstances, and with injuries like _this_…" Shepard shook his head and contacted the Normandy. "Well, if it is still possible, Healer Chakwas can patch him up."


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:**this is a work of fiction. No profits are being made. All recognizable characters or situations belong to their respective owners.

**A/N**: apologies for a broken update - was updating from an unfamiliar PC and software) Now it all should be readable.

The chapter has been beta'ed by **_Kira Kyuu_**and uploaded on June 13th.

**Chapter 8. Aftermath**

Harry awoke in pain and nearly delirious from the blood loss. He managed to register white walls and the smell of antiseptics and deduce he was in a healing ward before losing conscious yet again. His next awakening was a little better – he was still in pain and incredibly weak, but his mind was less foggy.

"Awake, I see?" questioned a woman with quite lovely features and a head full of grey hair. "How are you feeling?"

"Could use a pain reliever. And what's with all the bandages and needles?"

"You took a Draught of a Living Death. If I gave you a pain-reliever or a blood replenisher, you would slip into coma and be dead in a couple of hours. No potions for you in the next week."

"Oh, right. Forgot about that. Well, at least I'm still alive."

"Quite an accomplishment, considering the number of holes in your body," healer agreed drily.

"How long?"

"About five hours since you were brought here. We left Eden Prime about an hour ago – getting the beacon in the cargo bay took a lot of time, as Captain opted to take it to the Citadel all wrapped up. Frankly, I wasn't expecting you to awake for a few more hours."

"I'm a fast healer. Where's my stuff?"

"If you think that you're walking out there without my permission, think again."

"It's not that. I captured some geth to interrogate. They in my pouch somewhere, but nobody would be able to get to them without my instructions. So, young miss, would you be so kind to call David and tell him to fetch my things? Oh, and tell him to bring two best hacking specialists he have."

"I'll comm him _if_ you promise to lie there peacefully."

"Baby, I'm not the kind of man who leaves in the morning without even saying goodbye," Harry didn't need to fake being hurt – he was hurting all over. Getting out a thoughtful expression was harder: "Unless, of course, I'm chased out by an irate husband. You have one?"

"Oh, just shut up," she sighed, but Harry proudly noticed a slight blush. She left his bedside, and he could hear her calling Anderson on the ship's intercom. Anderson got there quickly, and brought friends with him – Shepard and a quarian with some very nice curves. Shepard was carrying his things. "David, just the man I was waiting for!"

"Good to see you alive and kicking, Potter," Anderson called back. "What it is that I hear about some prisoners in your pouch?"

"Some geth platforms I captured. Shepard, how good you are with transfigurations?"

"Pretty average, why?"

"Deciding which one to give you. I guess one I transfigured into a newt would have to wait until I'm a little better," Harry took one of the pouches from his belt and tossed it to Anderson. "This one I just placed in stasis. Until the spell is lifted from the object, nothing is able to move inside – not even electrons in its brain. A good Finite should do it."

"It's real, isn't it?" the quarian girl whispered. "Nobody was able to capture a geth platform intact before. Such thing could mean returning Rannoch to my people."

"Find us good evidence from this one, and I promise I'll give your people the spare one, miss…"

"Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Narhel-Raya. You really would do that?"

"I promise," Harry nodded solemnly. "Shepard, you'll need a drop of my blood and a password to open this pouch. I'm sure …oh, damn, I didn't even get the name of my healer. That's embarrassing."

"Karin Chakwas," Anderson supplied helpfully.

"Pretty one. Ah, I'm sure healer Chakwas can help you with my blood, and the password for this one is 'we're going to get killed, or worse, expelled'."

"What?" Shepard looked incredulous.

"We're going to get killed, or worse, expelled," Harry repeated. "I'm an incorrigible adventurer with the worst case of wanderlust ever recorded, so I carry almost everything I may possibly need on me in bottomless pouches or trunks. I'd key them into my signature, but I realize that there are some situations where I would need someone else to get into one of my bags, so I get them password-protected. And since I'm over two hundred now, my passwords all are little reminders of my past, of friends long since passed."

"Oh, great job, Commander, now he's going to be all sentimental for a while," Anderson sighed. "Tali'Zorah, I place you in charge of this interrogation. Use whatever or whoever you need, but I want evidence before we arrive on the Citadel, so you have two hours. Commander, make sure this thing won't wreak havoc on my ship."

They departed, and under Captain's meaningful stare so did Harry's lovely healer. Anderson pulled a chair to Harry's bedside.

"You gave me quite a scare, old man. Now I have a little more grey in my hair."

"Quit it, then. You're good, David – probably even better than I remember – but you're not the only one capable of doing the job. You're getting older. Time to get a nice girl and settle down."

"That sounds completely ridiculous coming from you, Patriarch."

"Hey, I think about finding a nice asari matron and settling down somewhere nice and sunny all the time. Get a bunch of blue daughters, open a nice pub. Haven't met theright asari yet, but at least I'm looking. What's your excuse?"

"I don't need one. I may be turning into a worrywart, but I still love it. I love ships, love being in the thick of it, love when all goes according to plan, or when I have to improvise to return all of my men home."

"And when you can't return all of them home?" "Then I'm glad I managed to return some of them. You know what I fear most?"

"What?"

"Another promotion. I have to sit on the ship as a Captain, but at least I'm capable of giving direct orders, capable to know all the men and women under my command. I'm still there. But another promotion and I do not get to see the men or to give orders. Numbers instead of real people and endless paperwork."

"You know that right people in the right place is the reason the Alliance works so well, David. We need people like you, people who remember that there are real people under your command," Harry said sagely and grinned. "So, how about we grab a few drinks on the Citadel?"

* * *

Tali'Zorah turned to be quite a taskmaster – precise, sharp and authoritative. Under her directions, geth platform was ready for digital surgery in just half an hour's time. Williams and Shepard, both in full battle gear, were ready to turn the platform into scrap metal on a moment's notice, and Alenko was assisting the young quarian with more technical aspects of the job. On a command, Kaidan hit the geth with the strongest Finite he could muster, and Tali immediately activated her hacking algorithms.

"Shepard, Williams, restrain it – physically! Alenko, help me with opening its chassis, I need to access the data core manually. Be quick, and do not damage the insides. Oh, no, you little bosh'tet, you're not getting out of this so easily. Try to sort through this! Hurry up, Lieutenant, this thing is struggling pretty hard!"

"Got it, ma'am!" Alenko simply cut the chest piece from the geth, opening it wide up. "Now activate the application I gave you. Hit this thing with a new worm every time your indicator goes into yellow. If I'm not finished and you got out of new worms, think of something!"

She dove in the open carcass, her hands flashing here and there, omnitool glowing, wires everywhere, white coolant spraying around. For Shepard it seemed to last forever, but in reality all operation took less than eight minutes. Platform stopped struggling out of his grip even sooner – about four minutes into the 'surgery'.

"I got it," Tali said simply. "Geth data core, complete and undamaged."

"What about the geth?" Shepard asked.

"This platform is just scrap metal now. That was the difficulty – to isolate geth code and purge it from the data core without damaging the rest. Now we just have to decode it and find relevant evidence. I will need any omni-tools you could spare, Commander, to speed up the decoding. It's very time consuming."

"Right," Shepard nodded and took off his own omni-tool. "Here you are. There should be another five standard Alliance issue in the lockers. Second shift would be over in about half an hour, so I'll probably manage to collect another ten for you."

"I appreciate your…enthusiasm, Commander, but I don't really need your omni-tool," Tali sounded very amused. "I just need to upload a decoding program into it, and connect it into a closed line I'm going to establish. Running a program would take up to fifteen percent of its processing power, so you could still use it for everyday purposes. Here, it's done. Just don't close the application named 'geth datacore decoding'."

"Oh, right. I've got to go, talk to you later?"

* * *

"Oh, she sure took to it seriously," Harry said when Shepard announced over ship-wide intercom for everyone not on duty to report to engineer Tali'Zorah in the cargo bay to assist with geth data core decoding. "You better get going, David – show the crew that not only their omni-tools are going to be invaded into."

"Want me to bring her yours?" Anderson questioned, standing up.

"Sure, let me give you my spares," Harry picked up his belt and dove into second-left pouch. "Should be there somewhere…aha!" Harry handed him not one or two, but three omni-tools – and looking at them, David wasn't able to suppress an appreciative whistle.

"Serrice Council? You sure aren't very conservative in your spending."

"You mean to tell me you can't afford them?" Harry looked incredulous, and for good reason – sure, Savage omni-tools were a tad expensive, but Alliance was always generous for its military forces, and David was Captain – meaning he got big salary and almost no time to spend it. After all, he was a military man – Alliance clothed, fed and provided his gear, not to mention sleeping arrangements.

"It's not the money issue. Have you ever managed to use half of their potential at once? It's like buying a top-line racing speeder to fly from your apartment to your office. From what I understand, you mostly use it to surf extranet, open doors and tell you time."

"Yeah, well, maybe I did buy those more to impress an asari shopping nearby rather then because I really needed them. Since it worked, I count the money well-spent." Anderson laughed. That's what he liked about Harry the most – his attitude. Some would think that being over two hundred years old, Patriarch Potter would be serious and calm – but Harry's peculiar brand of immortality left him in a body at its peak. Harry still was, and always would be a young man, only somewhat tempered by his immense experience and knowledge. "Hey, David! Tell your quarian that she's welcome to one of them – I figure she can put it to good use."

"I will," David nodded and walked out of the infirmary. He was surprised to see healer Chakwas sitting alone in the mess hall. She waived him over.

"Hello, Captain. Finished your talk with my patient?"

"I apologize for driving you out of your domain for so long, we got a little carried away."

"That's quite all right, Captain," she smiled. "You know Patriarch well, then? He isn't like I imagined him to be." "Harry isn't like other people. If you lose contact with someone for, say, five years, and then meet again, you can hardly recognize each other. Harry remains the same. He can make the most boring evening in your life into a crazy adventure you will remember fondly, or he can be your calm and collected anchor when everything suddenly goes FUBAR. Life is just more interesting around him," David smiled. "Oh, and he hates when people treat him like some kind of infallible deity. Treat him as you would any other soldier in your care."

"Thank you for advice, Captain. I'll go check on him now." David nodded and proceeded to the elevator. There were still a few people in the cargo bay – Chief Williams was at the lockers, tending to the weapons and chatting to a couple of marines, and another three crew members were gathered around the still present chassis of a geth. Tali'Zorah and dark-skinned sensor specialist, Karla Rodriguez, were sitting in the corner with several Alliance-issue omni-tools spread around them.

"Captain!" Rodriguez saluted him before grinning cheekily. "Came to supervise?"

"I came to volunteer my omni-tool for the cause, as well as to bring some spares from our passenger," Anderson nodded, not at all bothered by the woman's playful attitude. "As well as offer my congratulations for our Second Engineer. Well done, Tali'Zorah. I'll be sure to mention your role in my report."

"Eden Prime was attacked by the creations of my ancestors – it is only proper for me to help in any way I can. Oh my, are those Savants?"

"Harry's stock. He said you can keep one as a well-done present. He also said that you are probably the only being on this ship that can use this thing for its full potential."

"It's… too much, I can't accept it."

"Oh yes you can, Tali, and you will!" Rodriguez interfered. "If Harry Potter gives you a gift, you take it. I heard he once gifted a boat to a man living nowhere near the water, and a month later that man saved fifteen people during a flood."

"Never heard that one, but I knew a Shanxi veteran, Charlie McAlister, and according to him, one day he was sitting in the mess hall and couldn't find anything to open a can of stew, just as Harry was passing through. Harry gave him a goblin-wrought dagger, very rare and expensive, and walked away. Charlie found him later and to return the dagger, of course, and Harry looked at him for a minute and told him to keep it. Two weeks later turians attacked, and Charlie saved his future wife by throwing the dagger at the Cabal member about to finish her off."

"You hear that, Tali? You keep that Savant and put it to good use."

"All right, all right, you convinced me," young engineer gave up.

"Good. I would appreciate a status update on decoding."

"With all volunteered omni-tools and those Savants I have enough processing power to finish decoding in another three hours, Captain. But I continue to monitor already decoded data, and will inform you if I find something relevant."

"I'm mostly interested in Saren's relation to the attack and the geth. I doubt he just happened to set foot on the Alliance planet right when it was attacked by the geth."

"There is a log designating Saren Arterius as The Prophet, but nothing else so far."

"Keep looking. We should arrive on the Citadel in about 40 minutes, and it will take an hour at minimum to get an audience with the Council. If you find anything definitely connecting Saren to the attack, please send it directly to my omni-tool."

* * *

This time, when Shepard arrived in the cockpit, it was a little more crowded – Alenko and Williams were standing behind Joker, and the co-pilot chair was occupied by none other than Harry Potter.

"Chakwas let you go already?" Shepard blurted. "Sir."

"Harry's fine when we're out of battle situation, and yes, Karin decided I was fit to leave her domain. I'm still in pain and a little light-headed, but a medium done beefsteak and a tumbler of firewhiskey should alleviate it. Know any good restaurants on the Citadel, Commander?"

"Never been there," Shepard admitted.

"Well then, join other kiddies hoarding the illuminators. It's a sight. Relay in range. Come on, Flight Lieutenant Moreau! Relay in range!"

"I'm not about to recite aloud whole damn jump procedure every time we jump through the relay, grandpa," Joker replied with a huff. "That becomes old way too quick."

"Alright, be like that, grumpy pants. Grab onto something, chaps, we're about to jump. In three…two…one…and we're through! Welcome to Widow Nebula. You'll see the Citadel as soon as Joker flips the ship. Right about…now."

"Wow," Williams breathed out. "And look at the size of this ship!"

"The _Ascension_," Kaidan explained. "Flagship of the Citadel Fleet."

"Well, size isn't everything," Joker said derisively.

"Why so touchy, Joker?" Williams teased.

"Enough with the innuendo, kids," Patriarch admonished. "Besides, it's still nothing compared to the _Executor_."

"Citadel Control, this is SSV _Normandy_, requesting permission to land."

"Stand by for clearance, _Normandy_. Clearance granted, you may begin your approach. Transferring you to anAlliance operator."

"Roger, Alliance tower. _Normandy_ out."

"Wow, they granted us a dock near the C-Sec Academy," Harry whistled. "The last time I docked this close to the Presidium, I arrived on the bloody super star destroyer. If you like big open airy spaces, you're in for a treat, kiddies."

As soon as Normandy was secured in the dock, Harry pushed out of his chair.

"Well, I'm out of here," he turned on his heel and disappeared with a quiet pop.

"Harry's gone already?" asked Captain Anderson, coming up to the cockpit from the CIC. "Should have known. Commander, I just got off the call with our embassy. I have to meet the Ambassador in thirty minutes; I want you and your ground team with me, so meet me at the airlock in ten."

Shepard nodded and hurried to the cargo bay, Alenko and Williams hot on his heels.

"Full battle gear, sir?" Williams questioned on the way down.

"Doubt we'll need it in Presidium. A sidearm and a shield generator should be enough in case we need to go down to the wards."

"Got it."

Twenty minutes later they were standing in an open lounge that served as Ambassador's office and looking over Presidium. It was indeed big, airy space, with a lake in the middle, a lot of greenery and elegant white lines everywhere. Very peaceful and quite beautiful. Very unlike Alliance's Ambassador, Donnel Udina, who was in this very moment shouting at the Council.

"This is an outrage! The Council would step in if the geth attacked a turian colony!"

"The turians don't found colonies on the verge of Terminus Systems, Ambassador," rebuked salarian councilor, Valern. "Nor do they allow quarians to colonize a garden world without consulting with the Council."

"Humanity was well aware of the risks," Councilor Tevos added. "It is very possible that geth chose to attack in retaliation to that."

"Following a suggestion from this Council, perhaps?" Udina accused. "Your very own Council Spectre was spotted leading the attack! This is an act of war!"

"This accusation is preposterous!" Tevos sputtered, obviously frightened at the prospect of war with the Alliance.

"Then how would you explain Saren's presence and actions on our colony? Are you expecting me to believe that your lauded best Spectre suddenly gone rogue?"

"Citadel Security is investigating your charges against Saren. We will discuss their findings at the hearing, not before," Councilor Sparatus explained stonily. He nodded, and ended the holocall.

"Captain Anderson. I see you brought half your crew with you," for some reason, even that sounded like accusation to Shepard's ears.

"Just the ground team from Eden Prime. In case you have any questions."

"I have the mission reports. I assume they're accurate? Though I would like to speak with Patriarch Potter. Unfortunately, I don't see him here."

"He left right as we docked, though I assure you, he will be present at the hearing you managed to arrange."

"They weren't happy about it. Saren is their top agent, and we already have declared him a wanted criminal in the Alliance space. We just have to hope that C-Sec finds some evidence to support our accusations, otherwise they might use this as an excuse to keep Commander from joining the Spectres."

"Finding appropriate evidence is just a matter of time," Anderson assured him.

"Come with me, Anderson, there is a few details I want to discuss before the hearing. Shepard, you can meet us at the Citadel Tower, top level. I will make sure you have an appropriate clearance. You have two hours. I suggest you stay out of trouble in the meantime. Your team's presence is… optional."

"And that's why I hate politicians," Williams muttered. "I can't say for LT, but I want to be in this hearing, Commander."

"Me, too," supported Alenko.

"Shall we split up, or stick together for the time being?" Shepard asked. "I warn you, these two hours may be the only kind of leave we're going to see for a long time. Personally, I intend to follow Patriarch's example and get myself a medium-rare steak."

"I wouldn't object to a good meal. Navy rations are kinda…bland, sir."

"Right behind you, Commander," Alenko nodded with a smile.

* * *

**OMAKE** from **guardsmansparky:**

The Geth assembly was coming to a consensus when a new runtime entered the main Geth server, causing the virtual discussion to come to a halt until the new perspective had been shared.

[Runtime 1024-MP, you have returned late from the service of the old machines. Addendum: All contact has been lost with the Eden Prime contingent. Report.]

{Geth presence on Planet:designate Eden Prime was eliminated by a squad of organic commandos and one lone elite commando, also organic. Addendum: Lone organic unit turned our hardware into an amphibious organic.}

[...Repeat last statement.]

{Repeating: Lone organic unit turned our hardware into an organic amphibious organism. Addendum: We got better.}

* * *

**A/N: **again my apologies for a broken update, and my thanks to everyone who pointed it out to me.


End file.
